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[5] Record drawing of a design for a doorcase, January 1787
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Reference number
SM volume 57/4
Purpose
[5] Record drawing of a design for a doorcase, January 1787
Aspect
Plan and elevation of a doorcase in a Greek Doric style
Scale
bar scale of 11/16 of an inch to 1 foot
Inscribed
no inscription
Signed and dated
- datable to January 1787 (see Notes below)
Medium and dimensions
Pen, grey and sepia washes, shaded, on laid paper (365 x 281)
Hand
John McDonnell (pupil February 1786-91)
Watermark
Taylor
Notes
The opening of the doorcase is approximately three and a half feet. The total height of the pilasters is approximately eight and a half feet, of which the upper fluted part is five feet and the lower plain part is three and a half feet. This is closer to a half and half division than the traditional two-thirds one-third ratio.
The bill book for the period records the cost of ‘A key’d mitred and dovetailed pedestal on frontispiece with cover to do and molding round the same’ (SM Bill Book No 1 1786-88, p. 5), a description consistent with the pedestal on the doorcase in SM volume 57/4.
'Frontispiece' was by the eighteenth century a somewhat unusual and archaic way to refer to an external door. However the inscription 'A case of Lead' on SM voume 57/5 also infers that this was to be an external doorcase.
The record in the bill book implies that the doorcase was built, but it is not known which door the 'frontispiece' surrounded. Soane's bill books make no reference to external work to the principal side of the building, where it would be expected to find a 'frontispiece.' A topographical print of Nackington published in 1795 (British Library shelf-mark Ktop XVIII, 45; SM green box file Me-O, as attached) does show a simplified pedimented doorcase on the east front but it does not appear to correspond to that SM volume 57/4.
The bill book for the period records the cost of ‘A key’d mitred and dovetailed pedestal on frontispiece with cover to do and molding round the same’ (SM Bill Book No 1 1786-88, p. 5), a description consistent with the pedestal on the doorcase in SM volume 57/4.
'Frontispiece' was by the eighteenth century a somewhat unusual and archaic way to refer to an external door. However the inscription 'A case of Lead' on SM voume 57/5 also infers that this was to be an external doorcase.
The record in the bill book implies that the doorcase was built, but it is not known which door the 'frontispiece' surrounded. Soane's bill books make no reference to external work to the principal side of the building, where it would be expected to find a 'frontispiece.' A topographical print of Nackington published in 1795 (British Library shelf-mark Ktop XVIII, 45; SM green box file Me-O, as attached) does show a simplified pedimented doorcase on the east front but it does not appear to correspond to that SM volume 57/4.
Literature
P. Dean, Sir John Soane and the country estate, 1999, p.176
Level
Drawing
Digitisation of the Drawings Collection has been made possible through the generosity of the Leon Levy Foundation
If you have any further information about this object, please contact us: drawings@soane.org.uk