A GEORGE IV OAK AND PARCEL-GILT COMPOSITION BANQUETTE

The stool with fretted quatrefoils and cusped arches in the 'Gothick' manner was commissioned by William Harry Vane, 3rd Earl of Darlington, later 1st Duke of Cleveland (d. 1842) for the Baron’s Hall, Raby Castle, Co. Durham, and supplied en suite with a set of seat-furniture that included a pair of side chairs and a sofa (the latter exhibited at Treasures of the North, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 25 February - 9 April 2000, no. 122). The suite almost certainly entered the collection to complement an earlier phase of 18th century restoration at Raby when the architect John Carr (d. 1807), who had replaced James Paine, set about a major gothic renovation of the castle, completed in 1787. This overhaul included the creation of a new entrance large enough to allow a coach and six directly into the Lower Hall, and Carr's work at Raby has been described as 'one of the boldest conceptions of its age and the first truly dramatic interior of the Gothic Revival’ (C.S. Sykes, 'Raby Castle’, The World of Interiors, May 2000, p. 86). Although to date it has not been possible to firmly attribute the suite to a particular designer, George Morant (d. 1830) was supplying seat furniture during an early 19th century refurbishment. The records at Raby do not specify the precise contribution made by the decorator (J. Cornforth, 'Raby recovers silken splendour’, Country Life, 22 April 1999, p. 101). Furthermore, Gillow of Lancaster and London are known to have supplied a rose and gilt suite, also in the Barons’ Hall (Sykes, op. cit.).
The taste for gothic furniture was popularised by publications such as George Smith’s A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808), Ackermann's The Repository of Arts (1809-28), and Richard Bridgen's Furniture with Candelabra and Interior Decoration (1825). The Gothic foliage ornamentation relates to patterns illustrated by the antiquarian, L.N. Cottingham, in his Ornamental Metal Worker’s Director¸ 1823, and Working Drawings of Gothic Ornaments, 1824, and a related stool is illustrated in P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture & Interiors, Marlborough, 1984, plate 175.