Lot Essay
This clothes-press wardrobe, with its beribboned oval medallions of swag-veined silken mahogany displayed within ray-figured tablets, and its laurel-swagged frieze, reflects the elegant antique style promoted by the arhcitects James and Samuel Wyatt and translated in to fine quality cabinet-work by Gillows of London and Lancaster.
A laurel-wreathed wardrobe of this general form was engraved in 1787 and featured in A. Hepplewhite & Co's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide of 1788-94, p. 87, together with the door pattern, pl. 88. This pattern of handle, priced 7½d, also featured on 'cheverets' which Gillow supplied in 1790 for Tatton Park, Cheshire (see: N. Goodison & J. Hardy, 'Gillows at Tatton Park', Furntiure History, 1968, p. 1A).
A Gillow basic design for a related oval panelled wardrobe, executed for Mr. Walker of London, features in their Estimate Sketch Books, no. 966, preserved at the Westminster City Library. The commode section also featured on related Gillow wardrobes such as one sold in these Rooms, 11 October 1990, lot 131. One with different fitments was executed after their 1798 design (E.S. 1439) for The Park, Prestwich (see: Gillow MSS, Estimate Sketch Book, no. 1439, Westminster City Archives; and Sotheby's London, 7 July 1995, lot 114)
A laurel-wreathed wardrobe of this general form was engraved in 1787 and featured in A. Hepplewhite & Co's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide of 1788-94, p. 87, together with the door pattern, pl. 88. This pattern of handle, priced 7½d, also featured on 'cheverets' which Gillow supplied in 1790 for Tatton Park, Cheshire (see: N. Goodison & J. Hardy, 'Gillows at Tatton Park', Furntiure History, 1968, p. 1A).
A Gillow basic design for a related oval panelled wardrobe, executed for Mr. Walker of London, features in their Estimate Sketch Books, no. 966, preserved at the Westminster City Library. The commode section also featured on related Gillow wardrobes such as one sold in these Rooms, 11 October 1990, lot 131. One with different fitments was executed after their 1798 design (E.S. 1439) for The Park, Prestwich (see: Gillow MSS, Estimate Sketch Book, no. 1439, Westminster City Archives; and Sotheby's London, 7 July 1995, lot 114)