1. William MOORE

'Every Article
in the Inlaid Way': The Furniture of William Moore
fully acknowledges the encouragement he has received, hegs leave to
inform those who may want Inlaid work, that by his close attention to
business and instruction to his men, he has brought the manufacture
to such perfection, to be able to sell almost at one half his original
prices; as the greatest demand for Pier-tables, he has just finished in
the newest taste a great variety of patterns, sizes and prices, from
three guineas
to twenty; Card tables on a new construction (both
ornamented and plain) which appear like small Pier Tables, with
every article in the inlaid way, executed on shortest notice, and hopes
from his long experience
at Messrs.
Mayhew and Ince, London, his
remarkable fine coloured woods, and elegant finished work, to meet
the approbation of all who shall please to honour him with their com
mands.
In 1783, William Moore's name appears for the first time in The
Gentleman s and Citizen's Almanack, a Dublin directory which was
published at the beginning of each year, and it is from this source
that one is able to piece together many of the details of his life.
In 1783-84, he is listed as a 'Joiner' at 22 Abbey Street and
then, from 1785-91 at the same address, he is described as a
'Cabinet-maker'. In 1792, he moved to 47 Capel Street where
he is recorded that year as an
'Inlayer and Cabinet-maker'. The
following year, 1794, he becomes a 'Cabinet and Piano-forte
maker' at 47 Capel Street and remains there until 1810 when he
moved next door to number 48 Capel Street. As he died in late
1814 - on 19 Nov when his death is recorded in the parish of St
Mary - he is still listed at number 48 in the Almanack for 1815.
Moore's first address was on Abbey Street which at that time
was a busy merchant street with businesses such as a wine and
beer store, a watch and clockmaker's shop and, just down the
street at number 12, an Upholder and Auctioneer. An adver
tisement appeared in the Dublin Evening Post on 5 May 1791
concerning the son of this same
Upholder and Auctioneer who
had just taken over the family business; he was listed in Watsons
Gentleman's and Citizens Almanack as a Cabinet-maker. Capel
Street, to where Moore moved in 1792, was also a merchant
street and Moore was able to buy
a property there. A lease dated
5 November 1808 in the Registry of Deeds in Dublin provides
the information that Moore leased a portion of his
building to one Joseph Cassin at that
date, and from this deed it is pos
sible to gain
some
impression
as to the extent of
Moore's premises. It *
had a frontage to
the road of
twenty-four
and the same
width
in the
rear of the
back parlour
feet
with a yard
/ i
and outbuildings: ...and from northward to the rear
thereof also the
yard or backside of the house and the back building and workshop at
the rear of the premise with part of the yard at the rear of the back
building in depth from the rear wall thereof is 12 feet 6 inches.
A second deed, dated 1810, applies
to the same property
although it does not state the address, the measurements and
are
-
description
similar and this deed confirms that Moore sold
the house to F Harrison Biddolph. That he moved at this time is
confirmed by the entry in The Gentleman's and Citizen s
Almanack which shows that he changed, from number 47 to
number 48 Capel Street, in 1810. Further evidence as to the
extent and nature of the houses in Capel Street at the time
Moore moved there is provided by
an advertisement in the
Dublin Evening Post on 1 January 1791. It relates to number 49
and the owner, an
upholder, cabinet-maker and auctioneer, was
advertising his house as for sale as ...no. 49, Capel Str., opposite
Harris's hotel, together with the executive concerns in the rear
-
of said
house, extending backwards 130 feet...
From a Dublin map of 1838-1847, it is possible to see that, in
the case of both 47 and 48 Capel Street, there was a large open
courtyard
area on each plot which could have been used for a
workshop although it does not appear large enough
modate many apprentices
or
to accom
employees. The appearance of the
shop fronts on the street some years later, in 1850, is recorded in
The Public Pictorial Guide and Directory of that year and they may
then have been the same as
they
were in Moore's day. Both 47
and 48 were three stories tall with full glass windows across the
front entrance and, while number 48 was
slightly wider than its
neighbour, the fact that number 47 was a
carpenter's shop
in
1850 would lead one to believe that both properties had suffi
cient space for an
enterprise such as Moore's.
Moore was a member of the Master Carpenters of the City of
Dublin. In the autumn of 1791, the Dublin Evening Post on 4
October
printed
an address from the Carpenters' meeting which
criticised the conditions of unsober journeymen-carpenters and
stated that they
did not want them
back at work until they
became 'sober, honest workmen, not in combination'; it also
stated that their work would be deferred for a short
time
...as we
expect
a number
of hands
from England, Scotland, and differ
ent
parts of this country,
together
Apprentices.
address
by
names
one
was
with
sixty-seven
William
Moore.
As
mentioned,
..The
signed
of which
was
already
,6. Attributed to William MOORE: Demi-lune Commode, c.1785. (Detail of the Top). Marquetry inlay in various woods, 142 cm wide x 56 cm deep. (Metropolitan Museum
of Art). The decoration of this table, with floral and ribbon swags and anthemion frieze, is similar to that on the pair of tables illustrated in Fig 11.
47
Irish Arts Review