ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM SMEE AND SONS

This Canterbury follows a design published in 1850 by William Smee & Sons in their Designs for Furniture, 1850-1855 (see E. Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1977, p. 422). Smee and Sons of Finsbury Pavement, London, earned a reputation for good quality furniture, exhibiting at the Great Exhibition in 1855. The firm were both wholesalers and retailers and rank as one of the largest wholesalers of the mid-19th Century, making furniture in the fashionable Greek, Roman, Gothic, French and Elizabethan historical styles.