Judge Sir William Leighton

Plaish Hall was re-built for Judge Sir William Leighton who on his death in 1607 left land to endow church repairs at St James’s, Cardington, as well as the sum of £50 for the making of his tomb in the chancel.  In his notes on the History of the Church and Parish of Cardington, G B H Bishop, appointed Vicar of Cardington in 1914, noted that ‘Cardington is surrounded by hills. The climate is bracing, and the temperature lower both in summer and winter than in less elevated districts’.

Plaish Hall sits close to a number of other magnificent Grade I listed late Tudor and early Stuart houses, as well as Wenlock Edge, the location for A E Housman’s A Shropshire Lad / On Wenlock Edge, which he completed in 1896.

Three George II padouk chairs

This set of three George II padouk chairs are from circa 1735 and each features a pierced and shaped back with an acanthus and shell carved top rail and central vase splat.  Their legs are shell carved cabriole finished with claw on ball feet at the front. Padouk timber has a unique reddish orange colouration which darkens over time to a reddish/purplish brown, it is moderately heavy, but strong, and possesses exceptional stability.

These chairs represent a fascinating early example of hardwood furniture of Cantonese manufacture made to an English design. As Carl Crossman explains in his The China Trade, this furniture may have been made to special order, perhaps for a member of the British East India Company posted in China or Macao, another company outpost. The fact that furniture of this type and early date is a rarity, is supported by the Company’s ledgers which only lists a few dozen pieces per year during the 1720s and 1730s.

Thomas Sidney Cooper - landscape painter

17th century furniture

Top: Lot 133, a William and Mary kingwood oyster veneered casket or coffre-fort, circa 1690, with brass fleurs-de-lys shaped mounts throughout.

Its hinged top and front open to reveal an interior of two drawers, a hidden slide and a hinged compartment to the underside of the top

Bottom: Lot 207, from circa 1660 this Charles II snake wood, oak and walnut enclosed chest is an unusual piece in terms of its composition.

The moulded rectangular top above two drawers and a pair of mitre panelled cupboard doors open to three further drawers, on a plinth base.

A large and diverse group of paintings

Another highlight from the large and diverse group of paintings, is HMS Queen Charlotte at Spithead, an oil on canvas, by the Scottish artist Adam Callander (1750-1817).  

HMS Queen Charlotte was the first vessel to bear this name and was launched at Chatham dockyard in 1790. She carried 100 guns and was the flagship of the Channel Fleet, under the command of Admiral Lord Howe. The fleet depicted in this work are on the point of departure from Spithead, Howe set sail on 2 May in search of the French fleet with thirty-two ships of the line. The French fleet was located 400 miles west of Ushant and Howe pursued them for two days but did not engage the enemy until 1 June. Howe won a decisive victory, and on 24 June George III presented him with a diamond-hilted sword, he was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1797.

Adam Callander exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1780-1811 and the British Institution from 1806-1811.

The auction also includes paintings by Allan Ramsay (1713-1784), Francis Cotes (1726-1770), Paul Sandby (1731-1809), John Linnell (1792-1882) and John Ward (1917-2007), amongst many other artists from both Britain and Europe.