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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  Australian & Colonial - Antique & Historical
• Sale Date:
  03 Jun 2014 ~ 2.30pm
• Lot #:
  312
• Lot Description:
  A highly important cradle of grand proportions, attributed to Johan Martin Levien,
  the famous mid-19th century New Zealand and London cabinet-maker; and believed to have been commissioned by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert c1846, probably for the birth of their fifth child, Helena, in 1846. Made in the Cinquecento style from woods traditionally used in England, combined with a number recently discovered in New Zealand. Adorned with extensive veneering and cross-banding of the highest quality. The bowl and supports of the cradle are of walnut; the carvings of maple. The feet, legs and stretcher are veneered in Totara Knot, the renowned New Zealand decorative timber. The inner headboard and the outer end of the cradle are veneered in Totara, Puriri, Maire and White Pine, and line-strung in ivory. The outer headboard and the inner end of the cradle are veneered in Rosewood.1 The frieze on the outer edge of the cradle is also of Rosewood veneer, decorated with an ivory renaissance arabesque. The frieze also incorporates two ivory portrait medallions, each engraved with the head of a young child. The inner face of the headboard features an earlier and larger, line engraved, ivory plaque of five cherubs. It is confidently attributed to the outstanding Italian engraver, Francesco Bartolozzi RA (1727--1815); and appears heavily influenced by paintings of his two great friends and colleagues in the Royal Academy: Angelica Kauffmann's "Four Children with a Basket of Fruit", and Joshua Reynolds's "Angels Heads".
• Notes:
  Johan (Johann) Martin (Marten, Martien) Levien (1811-1871) was born in Barth, a sea-port in Western Pomerania, Prussia. Having completed an apprenticeship to a cabinet-maker there, he became a Master by 1831. He then travelled extensively throughout Europe for a number of years, practising his trade, and extending his education and his range of skills, particularly in drawing and design. Then, in 1837, he set off for the New World, sailing to Pernambuco in Brazil, where he set up business. For health reasons, he moved to Rio de Janeiro c1840, where he is recorded as having spent a number of months scouring the forests of the interior for new and attractive woods, and collecting numerous specimens. It apparently then occurred to him that unknown woods might await his discovery in New Zealand. He took passage on an English ship and arrived at Wellington in 1840. Once again, he set up business in the new locality, making furniture for the small European population. He soon learned to speak both English and Maori; and, with the help of the Maoris, he commenced his search for new, as yet unknown, timbers. In this, he proved successful; and he began to use the new woods in the cabinet-manufactory he had established at the beach now known as Lambton Quay. Newspaper reports at the time attest to his success as a cabinet-maker and user of local timbers.2 His cabinet-making business soon became highly successful. However, he saw a new opportunity awaiting him in the Old World. The New Zealand Gazette, Wellington, 3 December 1843, reported that "his work is beautifully executed and his prices moderate"; but it continued: Mr. Levien proceeds in the Brig Victoria to London, with a view to establishing a warehouse for the manufacture and sale of New Zealand woods ... Mr. Levien takes with him a large quantity of choice specimens of our woods, carefully selected by him, and well seasoned before embarked. On arrival in London, Levien again found success, both in the sale of New Zealand woods to high quality English cabinet-makers (including Gillow and Dowbiggin), and in obtaining orders for the making of furniture from the aristocracy (including Baron Rothschild),3 both from New Zealand woods and from woods traditionally used for cabinet work in London. Royal recognition followed quickly. In 1846, the Sun reported: We are happy to announce that her Majesty has been pleased to confer upon Mr. Levien the appointment of cabinet-maker to her Majesty, in token of the very elegant specimens of workmanship made by him from the woods of New Zealand. Her Majesty the Queen was the first to patronise him, and he has secured great favour with her Majesty by his workmanship, his skills, and his woods. Levien's success continued. He opened new premises at 10 Davies-street, Grosvenor Square, in 1848. Through his friendship with the Chevalier (later, Baron) Bunsen, Prussian Ambassador to Britain, he came to the notice of King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Levien made a number of items for the King, who recognised his services by presenting him with a gold medal and a Royal Appointment. Having reported the presentation, the London Morning Post 18 April 1848 commented: Mr. Levien has orders in progress for other Courts than that of Prussia. Amongst the English nobility and gentry. whose patronage he is experiencing, we may also mention Lord Ingreste, Lord Ilchester, John Abel Smith, Stewart Marjoribanks, G. Tomline... Levien continued his highly successful business in Grosvenor Square, and his use of both European and New Zealand woods, for twenty more years. Royalty continued to be among his clients. He sold the business in 1868.4 He died in 1871. He exhibited furniture at the International Exhibition, London, 1851; the Dublin Exhibition, 1853, the Paris Exhibition, 1855, and the International Exhibition, London, 1862. He obtained Honourable Mentions at London in 1851 and again in 1862 and a Prize Medal at the 1855 Paris Exhibition. He appears only rarely to have signed or labelled his furniture. A number of items have nonetheless been firmly attributed or provenanced to him. Many others are known only from engravings in Exhibition Catalogues and other publications, including 'Art Furniture'- Woods of New Zealand, and their adaptability to art furniture, James S. Virtue, London, 1861?5. He is represented in the Royal Collection (Jewel Cabinet);?6 The Museum Of New Zealand, Te Papa, Tongarewa, (Marquetry Table in Walnut and other woods);7 and in at least two known private collections (Marquetry Work Tables and a Totara Secretaire Chest). The 1851 Sideboard made for H.S. Westmacott was sold at Sothebys UK in 1998 for £380,000 IBP.8 Attribution to Johan Martin Levien The Cradle is of such quality that it is clear that it could only have been made by one of a very limited number of London cabinet-makers, including Levien. Critically, Levien appears to have been pre-eminent in the use of NZ timbers for many years after his arrival in London in 1843. His publication of his booklet on New Zealand woods indicates the unique position he enjoyed in relation to both the knowledge and the use of New Zealand woods at the time, particularly in veneering, parquetry and marquetry. The Cradle displays a number of those New Zealand woods. No other cabinetmaker at the time of the presumed date of the Cradle (c1846; see below) is known to have used such a variety of those woods on a single piece. The main wood is, of course, Totara Knot. Levien particularly favoured the use of veneers of that timber. While he was not the only cabinet-maker in London to employ it, no-one else is known to have employed it nearly as extensively as it has been used on the Cradle. Totara Knot appears to have been used sparsely by English cabinet-makers before 1860, and never in so extensive a way as on the Cradle. Perhaps the most remarkable known examples of Levien's extensive use of the timber are on the sideboards he made. The sideboard for the King of Prussia in 18609 and the 1851 Exhibition Sideboard for H.S. Westmacott are veneered all over in Totara Knot. Along with the King of Prussia and H. S. Westmacott, The Duchess of Sutherland10 and Baron Rothschild11 placed orders with Levien to furnish entire rooms with Totara in combination with other woods of New Zealand. The Pompeian Cabinet indicates Levien's familiarity with the use of ivory, which is extensively employed on the Cradle. He is also known to have employed Italian artisans in his London manufactory. Given all the information set out above, we have no hesitation in stating that it seems highly probable that the Cradle was, indeed, the work of Johann Martin Levien. Provenance to Queen Victoria & Prince Albert First, the overall style of the Cradle, "Cinquecento", was a favourite style of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, as well as of other leading figures in the Royal Court. These included the Duchess of Sutherland (the Queen's Mistress of the Robes), who heavily influenced the Queen's taste, and who was also a major client of Levien;12 and Ludwig Gruner, Prince Albert's friend and architectural and decorative adviser, who was involved in the design of Osborne House.13 Numerous items of furniture in the preferred style were acquired by the Royal family and the wider Court. Levien was himself, of course, a leading proponent of the style. The sideboard exhibited at the 1851 Exhibition was accorded the highest praise by the leading critic of the time, Ralph Nicholson Wornum, who compared it favourably with another Exhibition item in a similar style: Levien's sideboard is a better example of the Cinquecento, and certainly also one of the finest pieces of English furniture in the Exhibition.14 Second, the casters on the Cradle, which appear to be original, are marked "C & G Patent", and are of a type manufactured by Copeland and Garrett only between 1833 and 1847. It seems likely that the Cradle is within that period. If so, there is an obvious possibility that it was part of the suite of furniture made for Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort that led to the appointment of Levien as Cabinet-maker to the Queen in 1846. That appointment was based specifically on Levien's furniture displaying New Zealand woods. Third, the ivory portrait medallions and the larger plaque attributed to Bartolozzi reflect the known concern of the Queen and Prince Albert to represent themselves as people of middle class virtue, dedicated to their children, to religion, and to middle class values. Both portrait medallions show children holding flowers, a symbol of particular significance to the Royal couple. In order to project a modern, close-knit family, the children were key. Portraits of the children, holding symbolic flowers within the furnishings and artwork were commissioned and displayed throughout the palaces, a point well made in a recent BBC program.15 Fourthly, one of the two ivory portrait medallions on the freize appear to be of the eldest child of the Queen and Prince Albert, Albert Edward ("Bertie"), the then Prince of Wales and future Edward VII.16 The other portrait is worn and less easy to discern, but it may be of the Princess Royal, Victoria Adelaide Mary Louisa, the eldest child of the Royal couple. The flowers held by the children resemble roses, myrtle and cinquefoils and are symbolic of maternal love and affection. These flowers frequently appear within artwork commissioned by Queen Victoria, who during her reign was largely responsible for the spread of the language of flowers.17 That raises the question, for which of the Royal Couple's children was the Cradle intended? Given the presumed date of its manufacture, the answer may well be Helena Augusta Victoria, who was their fifth child, born 25 May 1846. Princesses Victoria, Alice and Louise all had cradles commissioned by Victoria for their births - in 1840, 1843 and 1848. The cradle commissioned in 1840 for Princess Victoria was used by all Queen Victoria's and later Queen Mary's children.18 Similarly, it is carved with symbolic flowers and features guardian angels on the headboard. The 1843 cradle for Alice withstood changing fashions due to its 17th Century manufacture19 and the 1848 cradle for Princess Louise was noted by Queen Victoria as "finer than anything of the kind, either antique or modern."20 All three of these remain in the Royal Collection. It is not unusual that the c1846 cradle no longer remains in the Royal Collection. The Royal collections states, "the supply of furnishing were regularly refurbished or replaced. As fashion changed, items were given away or discarded."21
• Estimate:
  A$300,000 - 400,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Furniture

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.