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Lot Essay
These rose-flowered stools, of chamfer-edged oak and mediaeval X-shaped form, are designed in the antiquarian 'New Palace of Westminster' style invented by the architect A.W.N. Pugin (d.1852). Pugin may have based his designs on existing Medieval furniture examples such as Queen Mary's Chair, an oak X-frame chair with bronze floral medallion at the intersections, traditionally held to be that used by Queen Mary at her marriage in 1554 to Philip II of Spain in Winchester Cathedral (G. Beard, Upholsterers and Interior Furnishing in England 1530-1840, London, 1997, pp. 36-37.)
Gillows of Oxford Street and Lancaster gained the contract for furnishing the bedrooms at the Palace of Westminster, which they carried out to Medieval designs by Pugin. An example of the work they produced there is an oak Gothic wardrobe, sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 11 April 1991, lot 153. Pugin's book Gothic Furniture in the Style of the 15th Century, 1835, popularized the medieval fashion and firms such as John C. Crace & Son of Wigmore Street also produced Gothic furniture in large quantities. In 1849 Pugin sent Crace a 'plain' chair pattern, with related 'chamfered' frame together with a letter stressing 'it is very important to have some simple chairs for the domestic market' (M. Aldrich et al., A.W.N. Pugin, London, 1995, no. 108).
A similar pair of stools was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 18 September 2003, lot 117.
Gillows of Oxford Street and Lancaster gained the contract for furnishing the bedrooms at the Palace of Westminster, which they carried out to Medieval designs by Pugin. An example of the work they produced there is an oak Gothic wardrobe, sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 11 April 1991, lot 153. Pugin's book Gothic Furniture in the Style of the 15th Century, 1835, popularized the medieval fashion and firms such as John C. Crace & Son of Wigmore Street also produced Gothic furniture in large quantities. In 1849 Pugin sent Crace a 'plain' chair pattern, with related 'chamfered' frame together with a letter stressing 'it is very important to have some simple chairs for the domestic market' (M. Aldrich et al., A.W.N. Pugin, London, 1995, no. 108).
A similar pair of stools was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 18 September 2003, lot 117.