Antique Gothic Grand Victorian Religious Church Altar Table

Description

A rare grand Victorian Gothic Revival church altar attributed to A.W.N Pugin (1812-1852)

Hand-crafted of solid pine in the first … more A rare grand Victorian Gothic Revival church altar attributed to A.W.N Pugin (1812-1852)

Hand-crafted of solid pine in the first half of the 19th century, having a removable octagonal top over conforming architectural well-form pedestal base with heavy-duty braced open interior, arched molding, quatrefoils and attractive paneling.

Pugin, Augustus Welby Northmore, London, architect, designer and cm (b. 1812–d. 1852). Pugin's career as England's most celebrated Gothic Revival architect is too well known to detain us here; his little known foray into the realm of cabinet making however, is relevant. Pugin was from 1827–29 employed as the designer of a wide range of Gothic Revival furniture for Windsor Castle. This furniture was manufactured to his designs by Morel & Seddon and much of it still survives in situ. In 1829 Pugin noted in his fragmentary autobiography ‘Novr. 23 began business for myself in the carving and joinery line at 12 Hart Street, Covent Garden. At this time I had only the upper loft’. [V & A Lib., L.5204–1969 f. 30] Hart St is now named Floral St. Pugin was also working at this time as a stageman at the nearby Covent Gdn Theatre. His business was a pioneering one for ‘In those days great difficulty was felt in finding artificers and carvers capable of doing justice to the execution of designs in the mediaeval style … young Pugin now proposed not only to undertake the delineation of working drawings, but also to superintend the execution of work which he designed’. [Ferrey, pp. 64–65] No bills, accounts or other documents of the firm survive and Pugin's name does not appear in the rate bks, probably because he rented the premises. [Wainwright, p. 5] As shown below only four commissions are documented and only three of these are certainly for furniture. Pugin's firm manufactured carved details as well as furniture and ‘Would undertake to supply all the ornamental portions of a building which could possibly be executed apart from the structure and fixed afterwards’. [Ferrey, p. 65] Pugin certainly supplied carved details and possibly furniture to Murthly Castle in 1830 and 1831 [Macaulay, pp. 248–49] which was then being built to the designs of his friend the architect James Gillespie Graham. Pugin almost certainly also designed and possibly furnished the interiors at Murthly: ‘… I designed all the interior decoration of a large mansion for Mr Gillespie Graham … in the style of James I, the drawing room in the style of Louis 14th.’ [V & A Lib., L.5204–1969 f. 29] The furniture manufactured by the firm was not only Gothic in the manner of Pugin's Windsor pieces, but Jacobean as at Murthly and at times Tudor also. A considerable number of furniture designs by Pugin survive from this period [Wedgwood, 1977]; how many were executed is unknown. A group of designs in the Gothic and Jacobean styles survive [Wedgwood, 1985] which were certainly executed for Mrs John Gough of Perry Hall. The Pugin letters which accompany them cover the period June 1830–September 1831 and provide more information concerning the activities of his firm than is available from any other source. None of this furniture is known to survive. The firm was short lived, for in 1831 Pugin ‘… not being brought up as a man of business was incapable of estimating the sufficient profit he attached to labour and materials in order to secure a proper return on invested capital … he was sued for non-payment of rent and placed in a sponging house … he must have become bankrupt but for the final discharge of his liabilities by Miss Welby his aunt’. [Ferrey, pp. 66–68] In September he wrote to Mrs Gough ‘… I have at length determined to relinquish the execution of work myself altogether to confine myself entirely to my original profession of an architect and designer’. [V & A, Print Dept, E.65–1955] He never again ran a business, only working as an architect for the usual fees. The history of this short-lived firm is important not only because of Pugin's fame as an architect, but also because of the advanced character of the carving and furniture which it produced. The pieces in the Jacobean and Tudor styles particularly were to be emulated in so many pieces made by other firms in the later 1830s and 1840s. Only two pieces made by this firm are known to survive, that mentioned below and a Tudor style oak table in the V & A which is stamped ‘A. PUGIN’. [Wainwright, p. 5] [B. Ferrey, Recollections of A. W. N. Pugin and his father Augustus Pugin, 1861; J. Macaulay, The Gothic Revival, 1745–1845, 1975; A. Wedgwood, Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects the Pugin Family, 1977; A. Wedgwood, Catalogues of Architectural Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, A. W. N. Pugin and the Pugin Family, 1985; C. Wainwright, ‘A. W. N. Pugin's Early Furniture’, Conn., CXCI, no. 767, 3–11] PERRY HALL, Warks. (Mrs John Gough). Furniture supplied 1830–31. [V & A] MURTHLY CASTLE, Perthshire (Sir John Stewart of Grantully). 1830–31. Carved details and possibly furniture. [Macaulay] WESTON HOUSE, Warks. (Sir George Philips) 1830–31. Furniture and possibly carvings. [Pugin letters noted by Warwick RO in 1932 as in house, now lost] PRIORY CHURCH OF HOLY TRINITY, Christchurch, Hants. 1831. The altar table, which is still in situ, bears the inscription ‘This table was made and presented to this church by Augustus Welby Pugin AD 1831’. The design also exists. [Wedgwood, 1977, p. 43] C.W.

Dimensions (approx):
38.5" High, 43.25" Wide, 36"Deep

Please note, at some point a back section was cut off so this altar table could be placed up against a wall, so one back section is unfinished.

Overall in great antique condition. Solid/sturdy. Structurally sound. Warm rich wood tones and grain detail. Delivered cleaned, waxed, polished and ready for use. less