Lot Essay
This oversized sideboard, almost certainly supplied as a special commission, relates to a design by Gillows for a 'Sideboard table' dated 1788 as illustrated in L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800, 1995, pl.95. The tablet centered frieze in the design is carved with a similar urn and drapery swags and also displays the similar projecting lower corners to the tablet.
Another impressive sideboard in the public collections at Temple Newsam House, Leeds is based upon designs by Thomas Shearer in his The Cabinet-Makers' London Book of Prices, 1788, pl.5 (see C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, vol. II, p.281, fig.388).
Another impressive sideboard in the public collections at Temple Newsam House, Leeds is based upon designs by Thomas Shearer in his The Cabinet-Makers' London Book of Prices, 1788, pl.5 (see C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, vol. II, p.281, fig.388).