Robert Blake (cabinetmaker)
Robert Blake (active 1826–39) was the first of the Blake family of London cabinetmakers.[1][2][3][4] Robert Blake is particularly known for his marquetry and for the ormolu-mounted commodes in tortoiseshell and ebony that he made in 1708–09, after a pair that André-Charles Boulle made for Louis XIV's Chamber at the Grand Trianon, on display in the New York Frick Collection.[5] A pair of Blake commodes, completing the two in the Frick Collection was sold at Sotheby's for $658,000 on October 15, 2015.[6]
Pieces in public collections include a piano in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[7][8] a writing desk in Goodwood House,[9] a centre table in Syon House,[10] a circular table in Alnwick Castle,[11] and an octagonal table in the Leeds City Art Gallery at Temple Newsam House.[12]
His works often imitated the important pieces of 18th-century French furniture that francophile collectors including George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, William Beckford, Francis Seymour-Conway, 3rd Marquess of Hertford and George Watson-Taylor collected at the beginning of the 19th century.
Blake often worked for Edward Holmes Baldock, who was a dealer in china, glass and, later, furniture to the Royal Family.[13][14][15] He is also known to have been associated with the well-known Old Bond Street dealer John Webb.[16]
Relatively little is known of the family. They are listed at 8 Stephen Street, off Tottenham Court Road, between 1826 and 1881. Robert Blake is listed in Robson's 1823 Commercial Directory as a "buhl cutter", at 8 Stephen Street, Tottenham Court Road, and subsequently in the 1826 Post Office Directory, as a "cabinet inlayer and buhl manufacturer". Robert Blake had four sons, George, Charles, James and Henry, who continued the firm of Robert Blake & Co. In 1840, it took the name of R. Blake & Sons, and in 1841 Blake; Geo & Brothers; and later George Blake & Co., cabinetmaker of 130 Mount Street, London, and also still in Stephen Street in 1844; George Blake in 1846-50 at 53 Mount Street; and in 1851 to around 1853 George Blake at 53 Mortimer Street. The premises on Stephen Street remained in use by various family members, listed as 'Blake, J. & H', and by 1853 'Blake, Chas. & H.,' until 1880.
References
- ^ C. Gilbert, The Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996
- ^ F. Collard, Regency Furniture, London, 2007
- ^ Christopher Payne, Nineteenth Century European Furniture, Antique Collectors’ Club, 1981
- ^ The Furniture History Society Newsletter, Martin Levy, May 2005
- ^ Théodore Dell, Furniture in The Frick Collection, New York, 1992
- ^ http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/19th-century-furniture-decorative-arts-n09410/lot.30.html
- ^ Barbara Burn, Masterpieces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993
- ^ Kisluk-Grosheide D.O., Koeppe W. and Rieder W., European Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2006
- ^ Illustrated in M. Levy, ‘E.H, Baldock and the Blake Family’, Furniture History Society Newsletter, May 2005
- ^ Frederick Litchfield, Illustrated History of Furniture, 1893
- ^ Richard Bridgens, Design from Furniture and Candelabra, 1838
- ^ C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, vol. II, London, 1978
- ^ M. Levy, 'E.H, Baldock and the Blake Family', Furniture History Society Newsletter, May 2005
- ^ G. de Bellaigue, 'Edward Holmes Baldock: Part II', Connoisseur, August 1975
- ^ M. P. Levy, 'E. H. Baldock and the Blake Family: Further Evidence,' The Furniture History Society Newsletter, May 2005, no. 158
- ^ Mark Westgarth, A Biographical Dictionary of Nineteenth Century Antique and Curiosity Dealers, Regional Furniture Society, Glasgow, 2009