The arched pediment enclosing an oval patera above a frieze with fluting and patera relate closely to another bookcase sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 19 April 2001, lot 179 ($110,500). Like the present bookcase, the latter was also thought to have been made by the Golden Square partnership of Mayhew and Ince, that was in existence from the late 1750s until 1804. Both bookcases share the same shaped pediment and panels of richly figured mahogany in the base.
H. J. JOEL
H. J. (Jim) Joel formed a superb collection of English Furniture and like many other collectors of the middle years of the twentieth century, Joel was fortunate to be advised by R. W. Symonds and the collection bears his distinctive imprint. However, unlike some of his contemporaries, Jim Joel's collection encompassed a wide variety of genres that included French furniture; oriental rugs; English, European and Oriental porcelain; but especially close to his heart was a passion for Sporting Art, reflecting his love of The Turf. His father and uncle were pioneering British diamond merchants and founded the Johannesburg Consolidated Investment Company Limited, known as Johnnies, of which Jim Joel was Chairman after his father, Jack's death in 1940.
His collection was sold in a monumental two-part Christie's house sale, on 15-17 May 1978 and the pictures sold in these Rooms, 23 June 1978. The contents of his London flat at 15 Grosvenor Square were sold in these Rooms on 17 April 1980 and the final portion was sold from the Stud House, Childwick Bury, Hertfordshire, in these Rooms, 1 April 1993.