I recently arranged a visit with a group from The Oriental Ceramic Society (OCS) to Burghley House in Stamford, Lincolnshire, which took place on Friday 04 October.
I had wanted to see the house for some years and I was in touch with an old Sotheby’s colleague who knew Lady Victoria Leatham and helped put me in touch with their operations to arrange the day.
Burghley House was built by William Cecil, the 1st Lord Burghley, who was principal Secretary and later Lord Chancellor to Queen Elizabeth I. Building began in 1555 and the north front was completed in 1585. It is believed that Cecil was his own architect and drew up plans and was aided in their design and execution by an Antwerp mason named Hendryk.
A number of alterations and additions were made at Burghley, many of which were undertaken by ‘Capability’ Brown, under the guidance of the 9th Earl between 1756 and 1779. This included raising the roof line of the south front, the stable courtyard and the Orangery. Brown also landscaped the gardens and park.
John the 5th Earl of Exeter undertook four long Grand Tours of Italy and France, during which he commissioned tapestries, furniture and statuary and purchased numerous Italian paintings. In around 1670 he had married Lady Anne, daughter of William Cavendish, 3rd Earl of Devonshire and in 1690 she received an immense bequest from her mother Elizabeth Countess of Devonshire (1619-1689). A number of porcelains that we viewed that day came from that bequest and are recorded in the 1690 Devonshire Schedule.
The Kitchen
We started our tour in the kitchen, which at first glance does tend to cause one to gasp because of its sheer size and the adornment of walls and furniture with copper pots and pans of every shape imaginable. The kitchen has a high ceiling with fan vaulting to the four sides terminating in a lantern cupola.
From there we arrived in the Hog’s Hall where staff would have observed which rooms were calling for service. There was also a large army of leather and earthen ware fire buckets for use in the case of a fire.
The Ante Chapel
After walking up a beautifully carved stair case, we arrived art the Ante Chapel, the reception room with three arches leading to the family chapel. All the stately rooms at Burghley are on the first floor.
The Chapel
The chapel is quite unusual in that it looks like quite a secular room with an ornate carved ceiling and 18th century Gothic revival mahogany chairs and sofas.
The Billiard Room
From the Ante Chapel, we moved on the billiard room.
The Bow Room
On entering the Bow room we were all rather taken aback by the splendour of the painted walls with virtually every surface covered with scenes of Cleopatra and Mark Anthony and the Conduct of Scipio Towards his Fair Captive. The ceiling was painted with scenes from mythology.
The room was planned as the State Dining Room and is described as such in the 1688 inventory. it would have mirrored a number of similar rooms that the 5th Earl saw on his grand tour in northern Italy.
The Brown Drawing Room
The Black and Yellow Bedroom
The Marquetry Room
The chimney piece in the marquetry room was decorated with Japanese Kakiemon wares from the late 17th century. These are painted in their bright distinct red, blue, yellow and turquoise enamels and featured animal and human figures as well as dishes, jars and covers, vases and cups.
Much admired in this room on one of the side tables adjacent to the chimney piece, was a large 18th century censer with animal mask handles. It was covered with a striking purple and white flambé glaze.
Queen Elizabeth I Bedroom
The Pagoda Room
The Blue Silk Dressing Room
The blue silk dressing room has the largest selection of blue and white porcelain in the house. The majority of it is Chinese and dating from the late Ming dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty.
One stand out piece is the unusual gu-shaped vase dated to the Chongzheng period (1628-1644), which is painted with a pair of phoenix standing on a garden rock. Phoenix are rarely seen on vases of this type.
I was also interested to see a large pair of blue and white triple gourd vases dating to the Kangxi period (1662-1722). These are rarely seen as pairs and are painted with dragons amongst lotus and peony reserved in white on a blue ground.
The centre piece of the blue and white display in this room is the chimney piece which featured two Japanese Arita late 17th century jars to the centre of the two middle tiers. There were also two Arita sleeve vases of the same era copying Chinese 17th century wares on the bottom level (second from the right and left). The remaining items were all Chinese from the 17th and 18th centuries, covering the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.
The First George Room
The Second George Room
The Third George Room
The Heaven Room
The Great Hall
The Olympic Corridor
Handling Session in the Great Hall
After a lunch in the Orangery, we enjoyed handling some of the pieces in the collection, a number of which were mounted in silver and silver gilt. My favourite piece during this session was handling the Chongzheng period blue and white square teapot and cover. The porcelain handle had been replaced by a silver gilt one and the end of the spout and its rim had also been mounted in the same metal.
It was a great day which was enjoyed by all those who visited.
