The Decorative Arts Society 1850 to the Present

WILLIAM BURGES' FURNITURE FOR CARDIFF CASTLEAuthor(s): Matthew WilliamsSource: The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 - the Present, No. 16, HISTORICISMAND INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS IN EUROPE, 1830-1880 (1992), pp. 14-19Published by: The Decorative Arts Society 1850 to the PresentStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41809194 .

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WILLIAM BURGES'

FURNITURE FOR

CARDIFF CASTLE

By Matthew Williams

The introduction of William Burges (1827-81) to John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, Third Marquess of Bute, during a visit to Cardiff in 1865 marked the beginning of one of the most successful artist-patron relationships of the nineteenth century 1 . The eighteen year old Lord Bute, whose 4 luxury was Art' and whose 'chief pleasure it was to build' was the perfect patron for Burges2, for whom realising a personal vision of the architecture of the Middle Ages had in the past been ham- pered by the want of a sympathetic patron. Lord Bute was intensely shy but highly intelligent and well read. He was the heir to a fortune created by his late father from the burgeoning mining and shipping industries of South Wales. But the world of mid-nineteenth century commerce held no attractions for the young Bute for, like William Burges, he was fascinated by the Middle Ages which represented for him a blend of history , religion and mysticism that had an irresistible appeal.

As a result of their meeting, Bute commissioned Burges to transform his Welsh home, the historic but somewhat small Cardiff Castle, into an appropriate residence for one of Europe's wealthiest noblemen. The result was spectacular; Burges created a medievalist's fantasy. Five towers con- tained room after room decorated in Burges' own highly individual and eclectic style (fig. 1), each interior reflecting the interests of both architect and patron. This vast scheme began with the building of the Clock Tower in 1869 and continued to occupy Burges until his death in 1881, after which the scheme was completed by his assistants to Burges' exact designs. Such a large project required vast resources of both money and manpower, for Burges' recreation of a medieval castle was not only architectural but also decora- tive. The rooms at Cardiff Castle are decorated with a wealth

Fig. 1. Cardiff Castle from Bute Park.

of painting, carving, gilding, mosaic and tilework that had certainly never been seen before in the fast-growing Welsh town. Consequently many of the necessary stone carvers, woodworkers and decorative painters came to Cardiff from elsewhere3. Not surprisingly, such a comprehensive scheme included furnishings and Cardiff Castle still houses the great- est concentration of furniture by William Burges to be found anywhere. By 1 87 1 , when the rooms of the Clock Tower were taking shape, Burges had conceived the design of the furnish- ings. He was, of course, no stranger to furniture design, having exhibited his highly individual and innovative painted furniture in the Medieval Court of the International Exhibi- tion in London of 1 862.

In his only published book ' Art Applied To Industry'*- Burges pointed out that a great feature of a medieval chamber was the furniture which "In a rich apartment would be covered in painting, both ornaments and subjects; it not only did duty as furniture but spoke and told a story". Burges cited medieval examples at Noyon, Bruges and Westminster to prove his point.

Much of the Cardiff furniture 'speaks and tells a story' too, although not quite as vividly, for not one of the pieces Burges designed for Cardiff was painted. It was not unknown for Burges to design unpainted furniture, for example his early pieces for Rev. J A Yatman of Winscombe, Somerset of 18585, and also a Litany desk for St. Andrews, Well Street, London of 1867 (in the V & A)6, are carved and inlaid. Similarly, the Cardiff pieces rely for their decoration on high quality carving and marquetry. In choosing carved and inlaid rather than painted furniture, Burges was making use of the excellent craftsmen available locally, in 'Lord Bute's own workshops' in Cardiff's Tyndall Street. These workshops employed a staff of woodcarvers, joiners and cabinet makers who, throughout the 1870's and 80's, supplied Lord Bute's various building projects in South Wales, Scotland and else- where. The 'Foreman carver and inlayer' of the Bute work- shops was Thomas John Snr., father of the distinguished Welsh sculptor Sir William Goscombe John whose earliest work is to be found at the Castle.

The new decorative woodwork for the Clock Tower was in progress by 1872 and included the buffet in the Winter Smoking Room (fig. 2). The buffet is the largest piece of furniture Burges designed for the Castle; it is constructed of walnut and flares out from a reasonably simple base to achieve an almost architectural quality as it terminates in four gothic arches. At the base a sliding cellaret is fitted beneath two cupboards, the doors of which enclose marquetry panels that display Burges' lively and schoolboyish sense of hu- mour. Inlaid in boxwood and two types of mother-of-pearl (flg. 3) these anthropomorphic designs represent the sources of alcoholic drinks. The left door bears a design of hops, each hop having an angry face of mother-of-pearl. The accompa- nying panel shows a sheaf of marquetry barley, whose fea- tures, also of mother-of-pearl, form a scowling face. The

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Fig. 2. The Winter Smoking Room buffet, Cardiff Castle, c.1872.

panels of the right hand door include a vine leaf, whose tongue sticks out as if sickened by over indulgence! Finally a mar- quetry bee hive, representing mead, is enlivened by mother- of-pearl bees. The side panels of the buffet represent similar themes, but include an anchovy and olives, perhaps symbols of thirst. Burges had used similar humorous devices before, in the 'Wines and Beers' sideboard of 1859 (in the V & A)7 which E.J. Poynter painted with a design of The combat of Sir Bacchus and the redoubtable Sir John Barleycorn'.

Above the doors a carved freize conceals drawers and displays another humorous design. Here a mock-heroic battle between frogs and mice takes place within the deeply carved foliage. This is a favourite device of Burges' and also appears on the ceiling of the Guest bedroom of his own house in Melbury Road. The origins of this 'battle of the frogs and mice' are found in Homer as well as in medieval Northern European literature, both of which were popular sources for Burges' decorations.

Three shelves, supported by sturdy turned pillars, carry the design upward. The first shelf conceals behind its inlaid and crenellated facade four cedarwood cigar drawers; equipping the buffet with all the necessities of the gentleman's smoking room. What might have been a ponderous design is lifted by the inclusion of twenty-four bevelled mirrors, a feature Burges often includes in his furniture, although usually on a much smaller scale. The buffet is surprisingly restrained for Burges, and was described by a correspondent of The Archi- tect in 1 874 as being "charming in its simplicity, an admirable example of modern furniture"8.

Fig. 3. The Winter Smoking Room buffet, detail of marquetry door panel and carved frieze.

More typical was the other sideboard that Burges designed for the Castle, for the large Banqueting Hall in 1 878-9 (fig. 4). Another production of the Bute workshop, the ornate design differs from the massive plainness of the Winter Smoking

Fig. 4. The Banqueting Hall sideboard, Cardiff Castle, c. 1878-9.

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Room buffet. Situated between two ogee-headed doors, the sideboard is of the same flamboyant Gothic design as the rest of the room. Made of walnut, it encloses a sliding cellaret at its base, and against a backing of linenfold panelling, numer- ous niches and drawers articulate against slender columns which terminate in elegant, crocketed spires. The central doors are carved with the arms of Crichton and Stuart of Bute and in the tracery above them Burges playfully includes his familiar carved mice. Again the feeling is architectural, and the sideboard fits successfully into the decorative scheme of the Banqueting Hall.

Drawings for the piece date from late 1878 and the design went through several variations before the final drawing could be marked This sideboard approved'. Sir Goscombe John recalled the piece under construction shortly before the Bute workshops moved from Tyndall Street to the Castle itself9. One of the few dated pieces made for the Castle, the side panel is inscribed 'Ioannes. Marc. de. Buta MDCCCLXXIX ' .

The design of the sideboard is an excellent example of Burges' attention to detail. The Burges Drawings Collection at Cardiff Castle contains the design for the lock plates, hinges and keys; and it is signed and dated 1 879 (fig.5). These were of nickel-plated brass with red or black leather backing the tracery, and were also used as fittings for the Library furniture.

Fig. 5. Design for the lock plates and keys of the Banqueting Hall and Library furniture. 1 879. (Burgess Drawings Collection BHL: 1 8)

Although his designs for both the buffet and the sideboard were new, some of the pieces made for the Castle scheme followed a more familiar Burgesian pattern. The major pieces are those made for the Bachelor Bedroom in the Clock Tower. Originally this room, which has a decorative theme of the earth's precious stones and minerals, contained several more Burges pieces, including a corner cupboard, tables and a bed; these were removed before the fifth Marquess presented the Castle to the City of Cardiff in 1948, and their present whereabouts is unknown. The bed was of a similar design to Burges' own bed (in the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford) although less ornate10. Contemporary photographs show it to

have been carved and inlaid, following Burges' practice at Cardiff Castle of leaving furniture unpainted. The drawing for the bed (fig. 6) which probably dates from 1871-2 shows the use of turned and figurative decoration, as found on the "Golden bed" of 1879 (in the V & A)11.

Fig. 6. Design for a bed for the Bachelor Bedroom, Cardiff Castle c. 187 1-2. (Burgess Drawings Collection, 21:66).

Among the surviving pieces the washstand (fig. 7) is also familiar, and is identical in shape to the 'Narcissus' Wash- stand (private collection) which Burges designed for his own use in 1865-7. Another version is the 'VitaNuova' washstand

( V & A) designed for Tower House, Melbury Road, Lon- don, in 1879-8012. Like the other two, the 'Bachelor' washstand at Cardiff is of an ingenious design and func- tioned as if plumbed into a mains supply. Dated 1874, the washstand is of teak in- laid with ebony, boxwood and mother-of-pearl and conceals behind its mirrored and crenellated top a zinc-lined tank, which would have been filled by hand with hot water. The supply was controlled by a tap, now missing, set be- neath the mirrors, and the water flowed through the carved mouth of Neptune into the grey marble basin which is inset with silver fish. Waste was then allowed to drain into a removable reservoir in the

cupboard below. The surface of the washstand is made up of a patchwork of different marbles and the narrow shelf above is inset with gilt and blue mosaic.

The dressing table (fig. 8) is also derived from an existing design. It copies, in all but the painted finish, the 'Crocker' dressing table (Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford) that Burges made for his own use in 186713. This rather grandiose and bulky design is again of teak and, like the matching washstand, has nickel-plated brass fittings. The surface seems identical to the 'Crocker' version: a geometric design of black, white and red mosaic. Although its form is pure Burges, Professor Mordaunt Crook points out that the design of the finials is derived, via Viollet-le-Duc, from a medieval'

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Fig. 7. The 'Bachelor' washstand, Cardiff Castle. Dated 1874.

armoire at Beauvais. "We all copied from Viollet" recalled Burges14.

Other pieces that show Viollet-le-Duc's influence are the two sets of chairs made for the Clock Tower (fig. 9). A set of ten of these, made of ebony-veneered walnut, inlaid with ivory, accompanied an ebonised table in the summer smoking room. Another set of the same design are of walnut inlaid with boxwood and mother-of-pearl. Their design is unusual and Mordaunt Crook aptly describes them as being

4 Jacobean in shape and Romanesque in decoration'. The turned and square- section frame contains a back-panel of lattice-work, a device Burges frequently used for screens and shutters at Cardiff Castle. The chairs have been said to resemble those designed by Viollet-le-Duc and Edmond Duthoit for the Chateau de Roquetaillade near Bordeaux15. The top rail and the seat had a deep tasselled fringe hanging from them, but these have mostly disintegrated and the original leather covering has been replaced.

Perhaps the most complete room at Cardiff Castle is the library, (fig. 10), the furnishings for which were planned about 1876-7 and were more or less completed by 1880. The room is a unique example of a Burges interior that has remained unchanged, complete with its original furniture. The Library is long and low and surprisingly intimate. Four bay windows filter light through stained glass designed by Burges and Horatio W. Lonsdale, the 'Architectural Artist' who assisted Burges on much of the Cardiff decoration16. The furniture consists of ten large bookcases, punctuated by desks and settles. The bookcases are of walnut, and their carcasses were mostly made by Gillow & Co, but their applied marque-

Fig. 8. The 'Bachelor' dressing table, Cardiff Castle, c.1874.

Fig. 9. Chair, walnut inlaid with boxwood and mother-of-pearl. William Burgess c.1874,. Cardiff Castle.

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Fig. 10. The Library at Cardiff Castle, about 1900.

Fig. 1 1 . The Library bookcases, Cardiff Castle, marquetry panel designed by William Burges and H.W. Lonsdale, c. 1877-9.

try and carving were carried out by the Bute workshops to designs by Burges and Lonsdale.

The ends of the three main bookcases, which are freestand- ing, contain marquetry panels by Lonsdale of three Greek playwrights, Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus (fig. 11). Each bookcase also bears a different family crest as well as a particular carved animal. Beavers, armadillos, otters and even the duck-billed platypus are amongst those carved. These animals are complemented by the marquetry decora- tion of the drawers, which are set behind inlaid panels of Californian marble. The drawer fronts (fig. 12) are of box- wood against an ebony background and display a riot of naturalistic detail, with beetles, snakes, lizards, insects and mice sitting beneath the lock plates. Flanking the drawers, scroll ends which are familiar from other Burges pieces, are

Fig. 12. The Library bookcases, Cardiff Castle, marquetry drawer front.

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here decorated with birds in different coloured woods thereby including much of the animal kingdom within the decoration. No surface remains undecorated, and geometric marquetry is applied profusely. Above each carved animal, 'scale' mar- quetry recalls similar painted decoration on the escritoire of 1865-7 (Manchester City Art Galleries)17. The books them- selves sit on leather-lined shelves and are protected by inlaid wooden dust-flaps hinged above them. The crenellated top of each bookcase lifts to reveal a receptacle for manuscripts or maps. B urges' use of crenellations on furniture was probably derived from the medieval armoire at Noyon Cathedral18.

Another intriguing design is the pair of walnut desks or tables (fig. 13). The pedestals of the desks are set with brass grilles, each cast with an openwork design of oak leaves and shields which bear enamelled crests of the various branches of the Bute family. The design of the desks, which date from 1879, is practical as well as decorative, for the grilles conceal the radiators of the central heating system - an effective piece of visual deception. The geometric marquetry of the desks matches that of the bookcases and was of course, the product of the Bute workshop from B urges' drawings. The firms of both Gillo w and Waiden (the latter made many pieces for Burges) estimated for the making of these desks in September 1 879. Gillow estimated £450, Waiden £225 ; it is assumed that

Walden's lower estimate was accepted though this is not recorded19.

The library is perhaps Burges' most successful room at the Castle and provided his patron with a warm, comfortable and practical working environment. It was virtually complete by the time Burges died after a short illness in 1 88 1 , but furnish- ing schemes for other rooms, most notably the small dining room and the guest bedroom, were completed by his assist- ants. Designs for the guest bedroom furniture, which date from about 1890, are probably the work of William Frame, and although they contain many of the elements of Burges' designs, there is none of his spirit. Frame's heavy Roman- esque decoration lacks the essential spark of originality that so characterises William Burges' work at the Castle. Cer- tainly Burges

' furniture for the scheme is a testament not only to the architect and his patron, but to those whose craftsman- ship and skill was to be found in 'Lord Bute's own work- shops'.

Cardiff Castle is open daily, except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Years Day, and the interior can be viewed by guided tour.

The Burges drawings collection may be viewed by prior appointment. Further information from the Castle Office, telephone (0222) 822083.

Fig. 13. The Library tables or desks. Cardiff Castle. Burges designed the metal grilles in the pedestals to conceal the centreal heating radiators, c. 1879-80.

Notes 1. The standard reference work on Burges is J. Mordaunt Crook,

William Burges and the High Victorian Dream, London 1981 See also The Strange Genius of William Burges, exhibition catalogue, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff 1981.

2. Hunter-Blair, Sir David O, The Life of the Third Marquess of Bute 1920

3. Goscombe John at the National Museum of Wales, exhibition catalogue 1979, 27-8

4. William Burges, Art Applied to Industry, London and Oxford 1 865 5. The Rev. J A Yatman pieces were dispersed by auction in

Winscombe in September of 1983. For an illustration of the bed, see Christies Sale Catalogue, 5 February 1992, lot 129.

6. For illustration of the litany Desk, see The Strange Genius of William Burges B. 18

7. For illustration see Mordaunt Crook op. cit. Pl. 1 84 8. 'Our Rambler at Cardiff Castle' in The Architect March 1874, p.

146-8

9. Goscombe John at the National Museum of Wales op. cit. 77-8 10. For illustration see Mordaunt Crook op. cit. pl. 185 11. For illustration see Mordaunt Crook op. cit. pl. 202-3 12. ror illustration see Mordaunt Crook op. cit. pl. 201 13. For illustration see Mordaunt Crook op. cit. 188 14. Mordaunt Crook op. cit. 325, 299 n,68 15. The Strange Genius of William Burges op. cit. 87 16. For information on Lonsdale, see Horatio Walter Lonsdale,

Architectural Artist , exhibition catalogue, Gallery Lingard, London 1984

17. For illustration see Mordaunt Crook, op. cit. 207 18. The Noyon armoire was destroyed during World War I; for

illustration see Mordaunt Crook op. cit. 182. 19. The Estimate Book of William Burges , National Art Library,

Victoria & Albert Museum.

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