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A PAIR OF GILLOWS DRESSING-TABLES FROM PARLINGTON HALL (LOTS 86-87) The following two dressing-tables (lots 86-87) were supplied in 1811 by Gillows of Lancaster to Richard Gascoigne for Parlington Hall, Aberford which he had inherited in 1810. Four identical dressing-tables were among the furnishings commissioned for the house, which included beds, bed-steps, wardrobes, chests, wash-stands, linen-airers, chairs and dressing-stools. Among the Gascoigne accounts the Gillows records list 'a Handsome Mahogany five drawer Dressing Table with rim and on turned reeded legs £6.16.6.' under 11 August 1811. One of the four dressing-tables is stamped 'GILLOWS LANCASTER' and is now at Leeds City Art Galleries, Lotherton Hall, Leeds, while the present tables are both signed by the Gillows craftsman responsible for their execution (C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, pp. 375-376 and 380, fig. 500).

A REGENCY MAHOGANY DRESSING-TABLE

BY GILLOWS

Details

A REGENCY MAHOGANY DRESSING-TABLE
By Gillows
With a three-quarter galleried rectangular top with concave centre, above a frieze drawer flanked on each side by two short drawers, on turned tapering reeded legs with brass caps and castors, inscribed in pencil 'J Dixon' twice, the handles apparently original
33½ in. (85 cm.) high; 42 in. (107 cm.) wide; 21 in. (53 cm.) deep

Provenance

Supplied in 1811 to Richard Oliver Gascoigne, Esq. for Parlington Hall, Aberford and by descent to
Colonel F. R. T. Gascoigne, Lotherton Hall, Yorkshire and by descent to his son in 1968
Sir Alvary Gascoigne, Lotherton Hall and included in the Gascoigne gift 1971, sold J. W. Watson & Son, 22 March 1972.

Literature

C. Gilbert, 'Furniture for Temple Newam House, Leeds', The Burlington Magazine, June 1970, vol. CXII, p. 399.
C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, vol. II, p. 376 and 501.
The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 246.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

This dressing-table bears the pencil inscription of J. Dixon. This could either be John Dixon, cabinet-maker in Lancaster between 1784 and 1811 who is named in the Gillows records between 1784 and 1799 or James Dixon who is named in their records between 1792 and 1817.

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