5 designs for frames, one design for a girandole; John Linnell.

'No. 161' A design for an oval pier glass. The frame is vertically aligned. The urn finial has a patera and c-scroll handles from which fall husk festoons. The frame features acanthus leaves. The apron features acanthus scrolls and husks.

'No. 160' This is a design for the same frame as no. 161, without any gilding. No. 161 and No. 160 are placed to form one design.

'No. 159' A design for a rectangular frame. The frame features neoclassical moulding and foliage in the corners. The urn finial has acanthus scroll handles and a patera in the centre. Husk festoons fall from the handles down the sides of the frame, supported by acanthus scrolls. The urn stands on two c-scrolls. The apron also feature acanthus c-scrolls. A patera sits in the centre of the apron with husk swags hanging from it. Flower heads descend from the acanthus scrolls.

'No. 158' A design for a rectangular frame. Half of the design is highly finished, the other half is less detailed. The crest is topped by an urn finial with s-scroll handles from which fall husk swags. The base of the urn is supported by two leaf c-scrolls. The corners of the frame have acanthus scrolls, (as does the apron) between which hang husk festoons. The frame features scrolling foliage.

'No. 157' A design for a girandole. This design is obelisk shaped, and the mirror shows two of the sides of the obelisk. Candle sockets sit on curling stems, which emerge from the bottom of the frame. The apron features acanthus scrolls which taper to a point from which bellflowers fall. In the centre of the apron is an oval shape, perhaps a pinecone.

'No. 156' A design for a rectangular looking glass with a curving serpentine top. Half of the design is highly finished, the other half is less detailed. There is an urn finial with s-scroll handles from which husk festoons fall down the sides of the frame. The bottom corners feature acanthus scrolls, as does the apron, which tapers to a point with two bellflowers.

This design is part of a group of over 900 drawings of frames, mainly for pier glasses, overmantels, and girandoles. Many of these workshop designs share similar characteristics such as leaf scrolls and festoons of husks. Most of them are numbered, contain information about who ordered them, the date, the price (written in code), the colour of the frame and the dimensions of the finished object.

The drawings from John Linnell's workshop survive over the period 1773 to 1783. From April 1773 to August 1778, the workshop produced about twelve pieces a month. Production decreased over the next two years to 3 or 4 pieces a month. In 1783 these designs were no longer produced.

Robert Adam, a leading architect, was a key influence on the neoclassical designs of John Linnell. Linnell worked with Adam for the first time at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, and they worked together on a number of other occasions. In the early 1770s festoons of husks began to be used on pier glasses and they are very prominent within these workshop designs.

John Linnell (1729-1796) was the son of the famous furniture maker William Linnell (ca. 1703-1763). Unlike most furniture makers, John Linnell gained a design education at the St. Martin's Lane Academy, which was founded by William Hogarth in 1735. In 1750, aged 21, he joined his father's firm as a designer. On his father's death in 1763, John Linnell took over the family firm. During his lifetime John Linnell produced high quality furniture, which rivalled that of other leading furniture makers such as Thomas Chippendale, John Cobb and William Ince and John Mayhew.

E.3495-1911