This lot and the preceding lot were bought from the 1930s onwards by Mr. Solomon Joseph Gubbay, by whom they were bequeathed to the present owner. Mr. Gubbay was a rope and jute merchant who travelled extensively and who lived in America for a period in the 1920s. He was a cousin of David Gubbay, who formed an extensive collection of furniture and porcelain with his wife Hannah, that was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1968. It is now displayed at Clandon Park, Surrey.
Pieces of furniture from the same collection have recently been sold in these Rooms, which clearly show Mr. Gubbay's eclectic taste. Many of the pieces show his love for unusual woods such as brown oak and burr elm, like the present lot. Among other pieces of furniture from the same collection, sold in these Rooms, are lots 81-3, 16 June 1988, lots 32, 69, and 72, 3 May 1990, lots 195-201, 14 May 1992, lots 213-4, 6 April 1995 and lot 51, 6 July 1995.