THE ADLINGTON HALL OAK SIDEBOARD A VICTORIAN OAK 'JACOBEAN' SIDEBOARD CIRCA 1860 The shaped gallery centred by an armorial device and motto 'DA.GLORIAM.DEO', flanked by shaped shelves with strapwork and fleur-de-lys backs and supported by seated lions, the pot-board with a boldly carved cabochon and foliate border, the pedestals with panelled doors centred by satyr masks and with semi-robed bearded herms to the angles, on plinth bases. 176cm high, 306cm wide, 108cm deepProvenance: Probably acquired by Charles Richard Banastre Legh (1821-88) for Adlington Hall, Cheshire, possibly as part of a refurbishment of the mansion, and thence by descent. Literature: Adlington Guide Book: 'The large Jacobean sideboard was made from oak grown in Adlington Park.'Oak Jacobean sideboard with superstructure centred by an armorial device 'da gloriam deo' and flanked by outset platforms supported on rampant lions holding shields. Features include boldly carved cabochon borders above pedestal cupboards with outset corbel figures and a conforming wine cooler' The present lot was probably acquired for Adlington Hall by Charles Richard Banastre Legh (1821-88), Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Cheshire. He inherited Adlington in 1829 as a descendant of a cadet branch of the Legh family, and through the female line; the direct male line having ended in 1781 with the death of Charles Legh of Adlington (1697-1781). In 1846, Mr. Legh married Mary Jane Arabella Wright, a daughter of the Rev. Henry Wright of Mottram Hall, Cheshire, hence the central armorial including the Wright Family. According to his obituary in 1888, immediately before his marriage in 1846, a member of the family, Colonel Charles Crosse Legh, had sold by auction the valuable library of books, many family portraits and 'other objects forming the chief contents' from Adlington (The Advertiser, 2 March 1888, p. 5). This may explain why there is a proliferation of mid-late 19th-century antiquarian furniture at Adlington. Charles Richard Banastre Legh does not appear to have maintained a London house, preferring to remain at Adlington as a traditional Cheshire squire where he was highly esteemed as a landlord by his tenants. The design for the sideboard was possibly inspired by the Kenilworth sideboard exhibited by Cooke & Sons of Warwick at the 1851 Great Exhibition. The sideboard, now at Warwick Castle, was made from a fallen Kenilworth oak tree. The extravagant carvings depict scenes from the novel, Kenilworth, by Sir Walter Scott, first published in 1821. The upper section is decorated with the coronet, arms and emblems of the Earls of Warwick (R.W. Symonds, Victorian Furniture, reprinted London, 1987, pl. 26). This historicist style remained fashionable; another comparable sideboard was exhibited by Levien of London at the 1862 International Exhibition, London (illustrated in The Art Journal illustrated catalogue of the International Exhibition, 1862, p. 36); this sideboard while still adhering to the horizontal lines of the Kenilworth sideboard incorporated a rich addition of Renaissance motifs, which helped to make the older framework more stylish (K. Ames, 'The Battle of the Sideboards', Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 9 (1974), pp. 8, fig. 8; p. 10, fig. 11). Earlier, in 1838, Richard Bridgens included a sideboard and wine cellaret 'in the Elizabethan style' from Aston Hall, Warwickshire, illustrated in Furniture with Candelabra and Interior Decoration, plates 28, 30. Condition Report: The plank top opening at joints, split to right hand end panel. Split to the moulding on the left hand side. Left hand pedestal opening of the joint on the base below the right hand corner. Splits to panel on left hand carboard door. Overall, the condition is good and commensurate with its age and use. Condition Report Disclaimer