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Kirchhoffer (Kirkhoffer, Kirckhoffer), John senior (1732-1783)

Kirchhoffer (Kirkhoffer, Kirckhoffer), John senior

Dublin, Ireland; auctioneer, cabinet maker and timber merchant (fl.1732-d.1783)

Made Freeman of the City of Dublin as a Joiner by Grace Especial, Christmas 1746. In 1759 he was elected onto the Dublin Common Council for the Joiners’ Guild. Recorded in Marlborough Street, 1749-76; 26 Denmark Street, 1781-3, in partnership with son Francis. Parish of St Bride, John Kirchhoffer married Katherine Kindt, spinster, 19 February 1736, [Parish Records Society of Dublin, vol. XI, p. 142].

A walnut veneered secretaire cabinet signed ‘John Kirkhoffer [sic] fecitt 1732’ is in the Chicago Art Institute [1957.200] and another of almost identical form (below), unsigned, is in the V&A.

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Kirchhoffer cabinet
A two-stage bureau cabinet in walnut veneer and marquetry, reputed to have belonged to the Irish satirical novelist and cleric Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), the author of Gulliver's Travels, c.1732  [W.32:1-1912]. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Other cabinets of this form are known and are assumed to be of Irish manufacture, although whether all can be attributed to Kirchhoffer is a moot point.

The Kirchhoffer firm supplied James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon, with furnishings and furniture for the bedrooms of the country house he acquired in Ireland c.1773, which previously belonged to the 7th Earl of Orrery. The principal rooms were furnished by the London firm of Mayhew and Ince. The earliest recorded account of the firm is from November 1777 to June 1778, and totals £222 2s 7½d for furniture for another house of James Alexander in St Stephen’s Green, Dublin. A second account from Francis Kirchhoffer refers to a bill delivered for the country house in August 1783 (totalling £294 3s 11d) and specifies further work, apparently for Merrion Square, amounting to £416 12 7d. A letter of 3rd August 1784 referred to furniture both for Merrion Square and the country house. Two accounts from Hall Kirchhoffer refer to furniture both for the country house and Dublin.

See also Francis Kirchhoffer and Hall Kirchhoffer.

Source: DEFM; Glin and Peil, Irish Furniture (2007); Roberts, ‘Unequall'd Elegance': Mayhew and Ince's Furniture for James Alexander, 1st Earl of Caledon’, Furniture History (2009).