George Oakley and the Princely Taste
George Oakley (1773-1841) enjoyed a remarkably successful and long career as an 'upholder' and cabinet-maker to a fashion-sensitive clientele that included several members of the Royal family. He received a Royal Warrant in 1799 after a visit from Queen Charlotte. It was noted in the Morning Chronicle of May 1799 '...her MAJESTY, the Duke and Duchess of YORK, and the PRINCESSES...highly approved of the splendid variety which has justly attracted the notice of the fashionable world'. In 1804 the London correspondent on the Journal de Luxus und der Moden (Weimar) wrote 'all people with taste buy their furniture at Oakley's, the most tasteful of the London cabinetmakers'. See M.Jourdain and R.Edwards, Georgian Cabinet Makers, London 1944, p.74.
The French influence that was to dominate the Regency period fashions was introduced by Percier and Fontaine's Recueil de Décorations Intérieures (1812) and popularised in England by Thomas Hope, in the furnishing of his house on Duchess Street, and Louis Le Gaigneur who opened up a 'buhl' manufactory off Edgware Road. The look was to attract the attention of the Prince Regent, who patronised both Le Gaigneur and Oakley.
Oakley worked for the Prince Regent at Carlton House and also supplied furniture for the Mansion House, but his work for the Cheere family of Papworth Hall, Cambridgeshire, is perhaps his best-known commission. Oakley's bill to Cheere lists a 'mahogany winged library case in the Grecian stile' (sold Christies London, 18 Nov 1993, lot 117); an 'elegant satinwood winged wardrobe fitted with drawers and clothes shelves, and enclosed with panel doors, formed of choice woods and elaborately inlaid with ebony £75' (the most expensive item in the Papworth commision, sold Christie's, London, 18 Jun 2008, lot 273); and a 'calamander wood circular loo table upon a pedestal and claws, the top inlaid with a border of stars in brass and ebony £31 10s 0d'. Other pieces from the Papwoth Hall commission include a games table offered Phillips, London 11 February 1992, lot 83; a calamander sofa table and a set of quartetto tables (sold Christies, London, 21 January 1999, lot 476), inlaid with distinctive brass stars on ebony ground (illustrated respectively in the R.Edward's, 'The Dictionary of English Furniture', London 1954, Vol III, p. 202, fig. 42; p.269, fig 15 and p.272, fig 1).
At various times Oakley supplied furniture for Sir John Soane, first at Pitzhanger in 1804 then at the Bank of England, as well as his house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. His last recorded bill for Soane was in 1827, when he supplied a pair of library chairs and a leg rest.
Oakley did not stamp or label his furniture but a few surviving identified pieces including those from Papworth Hall and several items in the Royal Collection allow us to get an impression of his unmistakably signature style. His reputation for supplying fashionable 'buhl' furniture was well known, as was his high standard of craftsmanship.
Identifiable pieces by George Oakley are typified by the graphic, architectural quality of design, the high standard of craftsmanship, and the smart Regency aspect of decoration. He developed a reputation as one of the most original designers of the period; his style quite distinctive and bold, using contrasting designs that juxtaposed geometric inlays with such exotic veneers as calamander, ebony, rosewood and satinwood. Here we shall attempt to analyse several groups of furniture that are likely linked to George Oakley's oeuvre.
1. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, photographed by Anthony Buckley at the Buckingham Palace in 1965. National Portrait Gallery. A card table, shown below, provides a distinctively graphic backdrop for this beautiful photograph.
2. A games table (one of a pair), attributed to George Oakley. The Royal Collection Trust, Buckingham Palace, London.
3. A library table, attributed to George Oakley on the basis of its close similarity to the Buckingham Palace games tables (above). Sold by us in 2020.
4. A specimen-wood sofa-table, from a group of furniture attributed to George Oakley. The form of its base is identical to the Buckingham Palace games tables and to our library table, while the distinctive pattern of brass inlay on its top is also used on our chairs (below), almost certainly emanating from the same workshop. The table is illustrated in Mallett, The Age of Matthew Boulton - Masterpieces of neo-classicism, London, 2000, pp. 112–113. Now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, accession no. 2004.2081
5. Detail of the inlay on the back of a chair (below), identical to the one used on the Mallett table above.
6. Two (from a set of eight) chairs in our collection, attributable to George Oakley's London workshop, on the basis of their association with a group of furniture that was likely made in his London workshop.
7. Unusual in their form, subtle in ornamentation and outstanding in quality, these chairs display the decorative techniques of cabinetmaking, rather than joinery. The veneers and greek-key brass-inlays cover the seatrails and front legs joints, a highly unusual feature for chairs, that demonstrates the superb cabinetmaking skills of the craftsman or a high-end workshop origin.
8. A chaise longue, ensuite with the chairs above, illustrated in Mallett, The Age of Matthew Boulton - Masterpieces of neo-classicism, London, 2000, pp. 94–95. The castors are of the same pattern as on the two tables below.
9. A magnificent centre table that displays the same set of brass inlays as on the chairs and chaise longue above. Sold Christie's New York, 29 January 1994, lot 342.
10. A games table, undoubtedly belonging to this same commission of extravagant drawing room furniture (the top is likely a replacement). Sold Bonhams, London, 13 July 2022, lot 56.
11. An unusual metamorphic table en-suite with the previous items, with Warwick Oakman Antiques in 2022.
12. A table cabinet with architectural pediment, of the form related to the Papworth hall bookcase (below). The 'Greek key' brass inlays are identical to those used on the tables and chairs above. Offered at Bonhams, 19 November 2014, lot 144.
13. Left: an ebony-inlaid bookcase, supplied by George Oakley to Charles Madryll Cheere, Papworth Hall, Cambridge, in 1810 at a cost of £47.5s. Oakley's invoice for the Papworth Hall bookcase lists it as 'mahogany winged library case in the Grecian stile' (sold Christies London, 18 Nov 1993, lot 117).
Right: a virtually identical bookcase, in London art market around 2012–2013.
14. A small secretaire cabinet, veneered in calamander wood and inlaid with satinwood, enriched with Egyptian-revival mounts. The ormolu ornament in its architectural pediment is identical to the Papworth Hall cabinet. Illustrated in Mallett, The Age of Matthew Boulton - Masterpieces of neo-classicism, London, 2000, pp. 114–115; subsequently sold Freeman's, 21 May 2013, lot 99 ($93,870 inc. premium), now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (below). A virtually identical cabinet, although lacking the original pediment mounts, is in the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco
15. The Mallett cabinet in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
16. An ornate centre table in our collection, attributed to George Oakley. It features the distinctive star inlay as used by Oakley on furniture supplied to Papworth Hall. Its lion-paw castors are of the same pattern as used by Oakley on the Papworth Hall card tables, the brass 'rope-twist' edging on top and legs corresponds to that on the Buckingham Palace card tables and the acanthus-leaf mounts pattern corresponds to the Mallett/Boston MFA sofa table.
17. A closely related, identically decorated but smaller table of a slightly simplified design, attributed to George Oakley, was offered by Norman Adams Ltd., London, illustrated in The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair 1989 Handbook, p.33; subsequently sold Bonhams, London, 26 Sep 2018, lot 199.
18. The distinctive star inlay as used by Oakley on furniture supplied to Papworth Hall.
19. A magnificent calamander centre table, attributed to George Oakley, formerly with Ronald Phillips, London. Note the castors of the same pattern as on the Christie's New York centre table and Bonhams London games table.
George Oakley invoiced Charles Madryll Cheere of Papworth Hall in 1810 for a 'calamander wood circular loo table upon a pedestal and claws, the top inlaid with a border of stars in brass and ebony £31 10s 0d'. (Loo was a popular card game for five or more players, hence the size of the table).
20. A pair of chairs from the same set with our chairs, formerly with Ronald Phillips, London.
21. A calamander wood writing table, the design attributed to Thomas Hope, the manufacture attributed to George Oakley. In the Huntington Library, Pasadena. Illustrated in F.Collard, Regency Furniture, Suffolk 1985, p.318 and in M.Jourdain, Regency Furniture, rev.edn, London, 1965, p.64, fig.128. The table features the distinctive star-and-ribbon brass inlays to the top, indicative of Oakley's workshop.
A closely related table in rosewood, supplied by Thomas Hope to his brother Henry Philip Hope (1774-1839) for his house at 3 Seymour Place, and attributed to George Oakley, was sold Christie's, London 3 July 1997, Lot 60 (sold £221,500), illustrated in Watkin and Hewatt-Jaboor, Thomas Hope, Regency Designer, London 2008, p.65, fig.4-10.
22. A similar table, from Tyrone House, Co. Galway, sold Bonhams London, 15 June 2011, lot 121 (£264,000), featuring the same inlay to the top as on the Ronald Phillips's centre table.
23. Two of Oakley's signature ebony and brass inlays: star-and-ribbon band on the top of a mahogany trestle side table (top), and the arch-and hearts band on the Tyrone House table (bottom).
24. Two very similar sofa tables or writing tables (image on the right - one of a pair, currently on London art market), both attributed to George Oakley and featuring identical star-and-ribbon ebony and brass inlays to tops and ormolu Caduceus mounts to the trestle supports.
25. A related table from our collection, following the same design and featuring Caduceus mounts to the sides, identical to the tables above, as well as the dramatically contrasting Macassar ebony and satinwood veneers to top. Now attributed to George Oakley. Sold to a distinguished private collection in 2020.
Caduceus, a short staff entwined by two serpents, sometimes surmounted by wings; in Graeco-Roman iconography, an attribute of Hermes (Mercury), the messenger of the gods. The caduceus is recognised as a symbol of commerce and negotiation and also used as a symbol representing printing (in this case associated with eloquence), hence it was perfectly suitable for adorning elegant writing tables, mainly used for correspondence.
Literature:
R.Edward's, 'The Dictionary of English Furniture', London 1954, Vol III
F.Collard, Regency Furniture, Suffolk 1985
M.Jourdain, Regency Furniture, rev.edn, London, 1965
M. Jourdain and R. Edwards, Georgian Cabinet Makers, London, 1944
C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1700-1840, London 1996
Watkin and Hewatt-Jaboor, Thomas Hope, Regency Designer, London 2008
The Grosvenor House Antiques Fair 1989 Handbook
Mallett, The Age of Matthew Boulton - Masterpieces of neo-classicism, London, 2000
https://bifmo.history.ac.uk/entry/oakley-george-1773-1840
