ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN JOHNSTONE, 1816-1818

The handsome bookcase has fine flame-figured mahogany tablets embellishing its plinth-supported commode, while the poetry deity Apollo is evoked by the golden sunflowered trellis covering the glazed doors, and by the palms wrapping the acanthus-enriched trusses that support a plinth-capped cornice for an antique vase or marble bust. This robust Grecian manner, introduced in R. Ackermann's, Repository of Arts, 1809-28, was also popularised by George Smith's, Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1826. The bookcase is likely to have been amongst the furnishings commissioned in 1816 by James Henry Leigh (d. 1823) for Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire from the New Bond Street firm of John Johnstone, and which may have included a library step/chair as featured in the 1811 Repository (see Christie's, London, 15 October 1981, lot 90). This may be the same firm that manufactured a mahogany bookcase for Stapleford Park, Leicestershire, and later subscribed to Thomas Sheraton's Drawing Book, 1793. The latter was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 29 November 2001, lot 220.