John Jones (''c.'' 1798/1799 – 7 January 1882) was an art collector. He bequeathed his collection to the South Kensington Museum (which is now the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

). The collection is regarded as important for the French decorative arts of the 18th century. Jones was born in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. He settled in London and became a tailor and clothier for the British army. Becoming wealthy, he retired from business in 1850. He devoted himself to collecting objets d'art, mostly French, which he exhibited in his house in

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Court, ...

. A catalogue of his bequest to the South Kensington Museum was published in 1882. The collection contains about 780 books and 1034 other items, including 313 prints, 105 paintings, 137 portrait miniatures, 147 pieces of porcelain, and 135 pieces of furniture. The Jones collection contains the first three Shakespeare folios and examples of the work of the principal French cabinet-makers of the 18th-century, including

Jean-François Oeben Jean-François Oeben, or Johann Franz Oeben (9 October 1721 Heinsberg near Aachen – Paris 21 January 1763) was a German ébéniste (cabinetmaker) whose career was spent in Paris. He was the maternal grandfather of the painter Eugène Delacroix. ...

Martin Carlin Martin Carlin (c. 1730–1785) was a Parisian ''ébéniste'' ( cabinet-maker), born at Freiburg, who was received as Master ''Ébéniste'' at Paris on 30 July 1766. Renowned for his "graceful furniture mounted with Sèvres porcelain", Carlin fed in ...

Jean-François Leleu Jean-François Leleu (1729 - 1807) was a leading French furniture-maker (ébéniste) of the eighteenth century who was trained alongside his rival Jean-Henri Riesener, in the workshop of Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763). After his master's death, ...

, and

Jean-Henri Riesener Jean-Henri Riesener (german: Johann Heinrich Riesener; 4 July 1734 – 6 January 1806) was a famous German ''ébéniste'' (cabinetmaker), working in Paris, whose work exemplified the early neoclassicism, neoclassical "Louis XVI style". Life and ...

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Bibliography

* « The Jones bequest to the South Kensington Museum », ''The Times'', 12 December 1882. * ''Handbook of the Jones Collection in the South Kensington Museum: with portrait and woodcuts'', London: Published for the Committee of Council on Education by Chapman and Hall, 1883. * ''Brief guide to the Jones Collection'', London: HMSO, 1922. * O. Brackett, ''Catalogue of the Jones Collection. Part 1: furniture'', London: HMSO, 1922. * Basil S. Long, ''Catalogue of the Jones Collection. Part 3: paintings and miniatures'', London: HMSO, 1923. * ''Catalogue of the Jones Collection. Part 2: ceramics, ormolou, goldsmiths’ work, enamels, sculpture, tapestry, books and prints'', London: HMSO, 1924. * D. Sutton and others, « The Jones collection in the V&A Museum », ''Apollo'', , 1972, pp. 2–58. * C. M. Kauffmann, « Jones, John (1798/9–1882) », ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, John 1790s births 1882 deaths Year of birth uncertain English art collectors Collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum