Pair of Fire Screens

Probably designed by William Atkinson
(1773-1839)

Possibly manufactured by George Bullock
(1782/83-1818)

Oak, with contemporary, but replaced, damask
39 in (99 cm) x 211/2 in (54.5 cm) x 121/2 in (31.2 cm)
English (probably London), circa 1815

MARKED:
167 D.H.M. in ink on a paper label (one screen only).

PROVENANCE:
Supplied to 3rd Earl of Mansfield for Scone Palace, Perthshire; thence by descent.

In 1803 the architect William Atkinson began the remodelling of Scone Palace, and was still involved in this project in the 1820s. Atkinson worked on many commissions with the cabinet-maker George Bullock, including at Abbotsford, Biel, Ditton Park and, most famously, Napoleons house on St Helena.

In addition to furniture at Scone apparently designed and manufactured by Bullock (see Anthony Coleridge, The work of George Bullock, cabinet-maker, in Scotland: 2, The Connoisseur, May 1965, pp. 13-17, figs 9, 10 and 11), there was also a considerable quantity for which Atkinson provided the drawings; see John Cornforth, Scone Palace, Perthshire - II, Country Life, 18 August 1988, pp. 72-76. Cornforth (op. cit., p. 76) was unable, however, to establish which cabinet maker was responsible for making up Atkinsons often very Bullock-like designs, the last of which was said to be dated 1821.

On account of the long-standing relationship between Atkinson and Bullock, logic would suggest that Bullocks workshop, before its closure in 1819, might have provided some of the Atkinson-designed furniture for Scone Palace. Furthermore, as late as 1819, Atkinson was still dealing with Bullocks former workmen in connection with the furnishing for Walter Scott at Abbotsford; see Clive Wainwright, Walter Scott and the furnishing of Abbotsford: or the gabions of Jonathan Oldbuck Esq., The Connoisseur, January 1977, pp. 3-15, p. 8.

Bullocks influence on the design of the present screens can be seen by comparing them to the Rich Oak Sliding Fire screen richly inlaid with Holly with three sliding pannel in crimson clothe made for Matthew Robinson Boultons Dining Room at Tew Park, and invoiced in 1817 for 16 (Account, f. 2, private collection).