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The Derby Centre Table

ONLY THE BEST

There can surely be no more daunting prospect for a contemporary craftsman or designer than to be asked to create a new piece of furniture for one of England’s great historic houses. It is a delicious challenge, but the resulting creation will have to take its place beside other pieces of the highest quality, add something new and, at the same time, look as if it has a right to be there, part of the inherited ensemble.
Some have argued that country-house collections have been too static and that we defer too much to the past. But two recent commissions show that the skills exist to design original new pieces that bring the same weight to a collection as a piece from the 18th century – that golden age of British craftsmanship – and bring pleasure to those who use them.

Knowsley Hall has been in the Derby family for more than six centuries, although the present Earl, who inherited in 1994, had to bring the main house back under his control after it had been let to a police college for 40 years. Thus, the new centre table, which the Countess of Derby commissioned for the garden hall of the 1960s neo-Classical house on the estate as a surprise 10th wedding anniversary gift for her husband, takes its place in the larger story of the house’s revival. It was intended to celebrate all that Lord Derby had achieved in that decade. ‘I wanted a piece that would record his achievements pictorially – to be a visual congratulation. I am so proud of what he has done,’ says Lady Derby.

Jonathan Bourne advised Lady Derby on the rearrangement of furniture in the house, which left the garden hall without a centrepiece. Lady Derby’s sister, the interior decorator Amanda Murray, suggested Thomas Messel, who regularly works with leading interior designers, including Colefax & Fowler, Nicky Haslam and Alidad. ‘Thomas was tremendous to work with’ says Lady Derby, a former exhibitions assistant to the Surveyor of The Queen’s Pictures, ‘and really educated me about woods.’ His principal influences are, he says, ‘the golden ages of British design, English Baroque to neo-Classical, as well as contemporary designers such as Juvarra.’

‘This design was a particularly enjoyable collaboration with an unusually well-informed and enthusiastic patron. We had to create something that would sit well in its architectural context and live with some high-class neighbours. In the neighbouring drawing room, for instance, is the great Derby Cabinet designed by Robert Adam and painted by Angelica Kauffman. The new table had to be spectacular, but also had to seem right.’

Mr Messel designed a round table in the late Georgian neo-Classical spirit, the base in rippled walnut, amboyna and satin-wood, with ormolu and bronze mounts and feet (modelled on the crest of the Braybrookes, Lady Derby’s family, ‘an unexpected surprise from Thomas,’ she says). The cabinetmaking was done by the firm Jonathan Rose, largely by one of the senior men there, Stuart Crowhurst, and the table has neatly concealed drawers for visitors’ books. The bronze feet were modelled by Peter Walwin, and cast by Whiteway Craft in Gloucestershire.

The Derby Centre Table
 
Lady Derby and The Derby Table

Lady Derby commissioned the table to celebrate her husband’s achievements

Above all Lady Derby wanted the table to incorporate her husband’s coat of arms and be decorated with plaques of Derbyshire blue john and a Latin inscription, which includes the names of their three children. ‘This is a very personal piece. I wanted panels depicting my husband’s horse Ouija Board winning the Oaks, with the house of the same name – a former Derby family home at Epsom after which the race was named – depicted behind it. Teddy had also reintroduced grouse to the moor at Crag Hall, so the view of it from the farmhouse in which he grew up is included, as is the safari park where he has bred endangered species such as rhino. To get all this in, as well as Knowsley Hall itself, meant that we needed more flexibility than we could get from the inlaid marbles I had envisaged.’
Mr Messel suggested a scagliola table top (an ancient tradition revived in the Renaissance of imitation marble with a powdered crystalline version of gypsum, mixed with glue, coloured and polished). Thomas Kennedy carried out this work. The palette was carefully chosen by Lady Derby and Amanda Murray to reflect the decorative context. ‘It fits in very well, and provides a talking point for visitors’ – which is just as it should be. Thomas Messel: 0117 9466 952

Author: Jeremy Musson. Photographs: Martyn Goddard
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