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Lot Essay
This fascinating cabinet, finely inlaid with gothic devices, architectural interiors with ogee arched doorways and trefoil-paned windows in the Gothic revival manner is reminiscent of Horace Walpole's legendary home at Strawberry Hill. An antiquarian collector by nature, Walpole became fascinated with Gothic architecture and artifacts when he purchased Strawberry Hill in 1747. The interiors and furniture of this proclaimed 'gothic castle' were largely conceived by Walpole himself and Richard Bentley and these designs are similarly architectural in form and detail. For a full discussion of Strawberry Hill and its interiors, see C.Wainwright, The Romantic Interior, New Haven, 1989, pp.71-107.
The reputed former home of this cabinet relates to an interesting chapter in British history. Cato Street (built in 1803) in the parish of St. Marylebone was the meeting place where a group of conspirators, led by Arthur Thistlewood, planned the murder of the members of the British cabinet in 1820. The ministers were due to dine at 44 Grosvenor Square with Lord Harrowby. The felons planned to carry off the heads of Lord Sidmouth and Lord Castlereagh in a bag, cannons were to be obtained from the Artillery Ground, and the Mansion House, the Tower of London, Coutts Bank and the Bank of England were to be overtaken. The plan was foiled as one of the conspirators was a government spy and the ringleaders were hanged. A print depicting the police attack on Cato Street was published by G.Humphrey in 1820 (see C.Fox, London-World City, London, 1992, no.616).
The reputed former home of this cabinet relates to an interesting chapter in British history. Cato Street (built in 1803) in the parish of St. Marylebone was the meeting place where a group of conspirators, led by Arthur Thistlewood, planned the murder of the members of the British cabinet in 1820. The ministers were due to dine at 44 Grosvenor Square with Lord Harrowby. The felons planned to carry off the heads of Lord Sidmouth and Lord Castlereagh in a bag, cannons were to be obtained from the Artillery Ground, and the Mansion House, the Tower of London, Coutts Bank and the Bank of England were to be overtaken. The plan was foiled as one of the conspirators was a government spy and the ringleaders were hanged. A print depicting the police attack on Cato Street was published by G.Humphrey in 1820 (see C.Fox, London-World City, London, 1992, no.616).