DESIGNED BY DECIMUS BURTON, ATTRIBUTED TO HOLLAND AND SON, CIRCA 1850

Details

AN EARLY VICTORIAN BRASS-MOUNTED MAHOGANY BOOKCASE
DESIGNED BY DECIMUS BURTON, ATTRIBUTED TO HOLLAND AND SON, CIRCA 1850
With rectangular cornice above a graduated entablature, with three glazed doors enclosing a pale-blue painted interior, with five adjustable shelves behind each door, on a plinth base, previously fitted, the locks stamped 'BARRON & CO. LONDON', the hinges stamped 'COPE & COLLINSON'
102 in. (260 cm.) high; 111 in. (282 cm.) wide; 18 in. (46 cm.) deep

Provenance

Museum No. 1, The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, built 1853-56.

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

The Grecian cabinets, with their stepped plinth cornices, formed part of the furnishings ordered by Lord Morpeth, the First Commissioner of Works, for the Museum of Economic Botany in the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew designed in 1848 by the architect Decimus Burton (d. 1881). They feature in the engraved frontispiece for Sir William Hooker's 1855 Guide to the Museum. (R. Desmond, Kew, London, 1995, pl. 22 and p. 194). They were probably executed by the firm of Holland and Son. They remained in situ at Kew until the early 1960s.

Three bookcases from the same run were sold anonymously [The Library at Gaiter's Green], Christie's, London, 6 March 2003, lots 51-53.

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