Thomas Chippendale at Harewood House. A celebration of the life and work of Thomas Chippendale - Master Furniture Maker. Presented by Harewood House Trust.

Sideboard Table
c.1772
The Earl & Countess of Harewood, & the Trustees of the Harewood House Trust

No bills or account books relating to Daniel Lascelles' furnishing schemes at Goldsborough Hall have been traced. The only recorded details of the furniture can be found in the 1801 and 1925 inventories. We do know, however, that Chippendale worked at and supplied furniture for Goldsborough. Samuel Popplewell records in the Day Work Book that Chippendale's foreman frequently went to Goldsborough between 1771 and 1776. Stylistic analysis of certain pieces with other documented Chippendale pieces also indicates that he did supply furniture for Goldsborough.

From the 1801 inventory it is apparent that the furniture and general schemes were much less lavish than those found at Harewood. Daniel Lascelles was therefore less concerned with a display of wealth and status, but instead furnished his house with simple elegant, but well designed furniture. A comparison of both dining rooms illustrates this difference in taste quite clearly.

Chippendale supplied twenty chairs and two sofas covered in red leather for the Harewood dining room, as well as the magnificent sideboard suite, decorated with expensive marquetry work and embellished with lavish ormolu mounts. In contrast the dining room at Goldsborough contained fifteen similar, but slightly plainer, chairs and two smaller sofas, as well as a single sideboard table, wine cistern and pot cupboard. None of these display the grandiose marquetry work or ormolu mounts found in the Harewood dining furniture.

The sideboard table is the only piece from the Goldsborough dining room which remains within the Harewood collection. What is significant about this piece is the simplicity of it's design with the only decorative elements being the pointed Gothic arches, which join the six legs, and the blind fretwork along the frieze. This fretwork is illustrated in all three editions of Chippendale's Director. This illustrates that Chippendale continued to use successful designs over ten years after they were first published. Although the Gothic style had ostensibly become old fashioned by the 1770's he continued to use it for less ostentatious houses like Goldsborough..

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