Treasures from Chatsworth, Episode 9: Design Through the Ages

I would say Chatsworth is full of surprises museums or houses can be quite dull when you're always seeing something you'd expect to see in a certain place when you're suddenly confronted with two elements that can stop you in your tracks and makes you question what's around you the world's greatest collectors are not only defined by great wealth Sotheby's takes you inside Chatsworth House the ancestral home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire discover the passion that has driven 16 generations of the Cavendish family to create one of the world's most extraordinary art collection the coronation chairs of winning the 4th of Queen Adelaide have quite an interesting story in the sense that they weren't there Thrones they were actually Georgia force throne essentially Georgia Falls spent an awful lot of money and so when it came to William and his coronation there wasn't so much money to spend so they actually had to recycle Thrones the reason we have them is curious the fourth Duke of Devonshire was Lord Chamberlain and after the coronation they were allowed as the perks of office to take any of the coronation furniture they wished back to their residences within the context of furniture at Chatsworth coronation chairs I suppose is something quite different in the sense that they came into the collection as a gift they are for me some of the most significant pieces of furniture in the house and I would say but probably most furniture historians as well [Music] I think furniture is incredibly exciting we've learnt a lot about the old furniture which was never much regarded in the last 100 years and that's in design [Music] historically when a new generation moved into this house if they needed furniture they got the best contemporary makers to make it we've reversed it to that practice now if we need new furniture we tend to get contemporary furniture made for us rather than going into the antique market to buy something similar to what is already in the connect here at Chatsworth the amount of patronage that they give to furniture designers is just extraordinary they're very adventuresome you get to see things I never see anyplace else they get pleasure from the adventure of somebody saying this is what I'd really like to do if I could last year we had an exhibition of sheep furniture curated by Hannah Obi when we had the idea for the exhibition and we decided to go with it I felt it was very important that we had furniture that was actually made in response to the collection it was a very simple brief has basically come to visit Chatsworth House and find something that in some way will inspire the design and creation of seating they actually ended up producing two benches which he called counterparts because they've sort of balance each other out counterpart is comprised of two blocks of diametrically opposed materials the light bright one is a reflection of resonant for the rock crystal that was given to George Anna he liked that idea he built the very bright one with lightning inside it glows from within so it eliminates something internal cracks and fissures and the other block is made from coal which has a very different effect to the resin and actually absorbs light the killed us were to reflect affect my family in the olden days at coal mined counterpart refers to nature of a plinth or a block or something that is used to place something else on so as a counterpart to the work that goes on top of it when you're viewing the work and the work is of primary importance but then when you go to sit it suddenly becomes a functional piece and the person assumes the position the prime importance what we're not trying to be is a museum what we are is an accumulation of different tastes of different periods different makers making different things all sort of cheek by jowl including some very multi I think it's vital to keep a collection such as Chatsworth contemporary to keep the house alive for a collection like this and a house like this to be stuck in a certain area seems a bit ludicrous the collection speaks volumes about the Dukes forward-thinking nature as a credit to him and his interest in our [Music] you

Channel: Sotheby's

Views: 78,788

Keywords: sothebys, sotheby's, art auction, art and design, royals, chatsworth, form over function, devonshire, Art

Id: J-VwF5rZLzs

Length: 5min 34sec (334 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 21 2016