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Record copies of designs for capitals for the first floor, ceiling for the drawing room, and for four types of chimney-piece - for which the original drawings have mostly not survived (5)
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Reference number
(51) SM volume 41/75 verso (52) volume 41/77 recto (53) volume 41/77 verso (54) volume 41/78 recto (55) volume 41/78 verso
Purpose
Record copies of designs for capitals for the first floor, ceiling for the drawing room, and for four types of chimney-piece - for which the original drawings have mostly not survived (5)
Aspect
51 Capital to Columns and pilasters of Bed Chamber Floor
52 Ceiling for the Withdrawing Room
53 Elevations for four chimney-pieces, A, B, C, D
54 Detail of chimney-piece D (reduced copy of drawing 17)
55 Moldings at ¼ the size for Chimney piece C and Moldings at ¼ the size for Chimney piece A
Scale
(51) full size and not given (52) bar scale of ¼ inch to 1 foot (approximately) (53) pricking through bar scale of 1/20 inch to one foot (54) ½ the size (55) ¼ the size
Inscribed
51 as above, Plan of Capital / of Column, Capitals to Pilasters / full size labelled Egg & tongues, Capital of / Column / full size / To be executed to / this Size if / the diam[ete]r of / the Column is / 1 foot, if more / to be kept to / this proportion, cornice labelled Square, Capital of Columns labelled Put the / Leaf you / have and / flutes above, Sq[uar]e, Round and Pilaster Capital labelled To range with top of Necking
(52) as above, Tendring Hall, make this frame like that which finishes the Cove in the Library and some dimensions given
(53) Chimney-piece A: Chimney for State Bedchamber / also the same design for / the Chimney in Lady / Rowleys Chamber of the / greatest dimensions the / Brickwork will allow and (detail of plan) Wall Line, Marble. Chimney-piece B: (pencil) Eat[in]g, (pen) Chimney piece for Sr Joshua Room / Hall Storey and This Chimney piece to project before the Wall only to stop / the dado Mouldings. Chimney-piece C: Chimney piece for the Chamber over hall - / the N.E.Chamber / the middle chambers in the East Front / the Dressing Room in the young Lady Apartm[ent]s as wide & as high as the Brickwork allows / the Dressing Room in the Mezzanine Story ...do / the two dressings in the West front Hall Story ...do,All the ornament / will be done in / Town & sent, (detail of plan labelled) Wall Line, Marble (twice) and Firestone. Chimney-piece (pencil) D: (pen) Chimney piece for New Cham.r / for S W do Sqr / for the two mezz.e / Chamber / These Chimneys to project only to receive the base Mouldings / NB All the Mantles must be secured with three Screws to an Iron Bar let in / behind the frieze where necessary. Some dimensions given and Chimney piece for the Eating Room / Library / Dressing Room / Lady Rowley dressg Room / will be made in London
54 as above, Tendring Hall / Chimney piece D --- Mouldings and labelled Wall Line, Line of Architrave, Marble, Line of frieze,and D
55 Tendring Hall (twice), Chimney piece for Tendring Hall, Wall line (twice), Marble (twice), Sunk (twice), This project before as pr plan and A
Signed and dated
51 Sent to Pearce May 27th 1786
Medium and dimensions
(51) Pen (52) pen (53) pen (54) pen and pink wash (55) pen and pink wash, pencil on laid paper (364 x 244) bound into 'Precedents in Architecture ' SM volume 41
Hand
(51) John Sanders (pupil 1 September 1784-90) (52-55) John McDonnell (pupil 18 March 1786-1791)
Watermark
(51) fleur-de-lis (52) T French (53) T French (54) T French (55) T French
Notes
51 The (column) capital has short waterleaves (gently curling at the top) clasping a fluted bell and is derived from plate XLIX of Robert Adam's Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro', 1764, though with plainer leaves, less frond-like than those of Adam. A photograph (Soane Museum green box files) shows that the design was executed.
52 See also drawing 11 (plan and wall elevations with details) in which the ceiling design is the same as the one shown here. Attributed to John McDonnell, Soane's second pupil who joined the drawing office on 18 March 1786. His drawing is somewhat uncertain, the dimensions and and instructions to the plasterer written upside down.
53 Chimney-piece A has a Vitruivian scroll decoration to the frieze and the jambs have flutes with a small leaf ornament. Chimney-piece B has festoons and urns in the frieze and a drop to each jamb. Chimney-piece C has swags decorating the frieze and heart-shaped leaves on the left jamb or an alternative drop on the right. Chimney-piece D has a bell-flower, bead and ribbon festoon with drops. The chimney-pieces for three or four of the most important rooms were to be entirely made in London, while the ornament for the remainder was also made in London.
54 McDonnell draws the bell-flowers (sometimes called husks) with a flourish.
55 Another drawing attributed to McDonnell.
52 See also drawing 11 (plan and wall elevations with details) in which the ceiling design is the same as the one shown here. Attributed to John McDonnell, Soane's second pupil who joined the drawing office on 18 March 1786. His drawing is somewhat uncertain, the dimensions and and instructions to the plasterer written upside down.
53 Chimney-piece A has a Vitruivian scroll decoration to the frieze and the jambs have flutes with a small leaf ornament. Chimney-piece B has festoons and urns in the frieze and a drop to each jamb. Chimney-piece C has swags decorating the frieze and heart-shaped leaves on the left jamb or an alternative drop on the right. Chimney-piece D has a bell-flower, bead and ribbon festoon with drops. The chimney-pieces for three or four of the most important rooms were to be entirely made in London, while the ornament for the remainder was also made in London.
54 McDonnell draws the bell-flowers (sometimes called husks) with a flourish.
55 Another drawing attributed to McDonnell.
Level
Drawing
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Sir John Soane's collection includes some 30,000 architectural, design and topographical drawings which is a very important resource for scholars worldwide. His was the first architect’s collection to attempt to preserve the best in design for the architectural profession in the future, and it did so by assembling as exemplars surviving drawings by great Renaissance masters and by the leading architects in Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries and his near contemporaries such as Sir William Chambers, Robert Adam and George Dance the Younger. These drawings sit side by side with 9,000 drawings in Soane’s own hand or those of the pupils in his office, covering his early work as a student, his time in Italy and the drawings produced in the course of his architectural practice from 1780 until the 1830s.
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