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Lot Essay
A number of related hollow-fronted dressing tables by Gillows are known with minor variations on the firm's early 19th century sketch. Several tables were supplied in 1813 to William Polwett, 2nd Baron Bolton (d.1850), for Hackwood Park, Hampshire, invoiced at £16 16s each. One of these was sold by order of The Executors of the 2nd Viscount Camrose, Christie's house sale, Hackwood Park, 20-22 April 1998, lot 364 (£47,700). Five similar dressing tables, invoiced at the same price were commissioned from Gillow by T.W.Egerton for Tatton Park, Cheshire (see N.Goodison and J.Hardy, 'Gillows at Tatton Park', Furniture History, 1970, p.35, pls. 18a and 20a), while another in the Judge's Lodgings, Lancaster, is illustrated in Susan E.Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, 2008, vol.I, p.332, pl. 283.
GILLOWS AND LORD MONTGOMERIE
Hugh Montomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton (1739-1819), was a politician and amateur composer, who promoted and partly funded the construction of the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal, while his son Archibald, Lord Montgomerie (1773-1814), a major-general from 1809, was employed in military and diplomatic posts in Sicily and died in Alicante, Spain. Both Hugh Montgomerie and Archibald were very significant clients of Gillows', who supplied a large quantity of furniture for at least two houses. They initially supplied The Earl of Eglinton's magnificent state bed, delivered in 1800 for Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire. The total cost of this bed was £323 16s 7¼d, one of the most expensive items ever made by Gillows. The overall cost of Gillows refurbishment of Eglinton at this time exceeded £4500 while Archibald spent more than £1100 with the firm in the same period.
In 1807 Montgomerie built another residence, Coilsfield, nearby, designed by the Edinburgh architect and Robert Adam's pupil John Patterson. Gillows supplied much of the furniture for this new house including bookcases and sideboards, and bedroom furnishings including Lord Montgomerie's 'Trafalgar' bed, cheval mirror bedsteps, luggage stand and bidet, all featuring the firm's characteristic reeded decoration and geometric mouldings. A pair of drum-shaped dressing-tables, bearing the same 'Montgomerie' label as the present lot and almost certainly part of the same commission, were offered for sale anonymously Christie's, London, 19 November 2009, lot 110. Some of this furniture was probably supplied by Gillows' London workshops since the account, £4,762 7s in total, was settled in London in October 1807. The commissions are covered extensively in Susan E.Stuart (ibid).
Coilsfield, or 'The Castle of Montgomerie', features in one of Robert Burns' songs, and was well-known to Burns as it was situated on the Ayr to Mauchline road:
"Ye banks and braes and streams around
The castle o' Montgomerie,
Green be your woods and fair your flours,
Your waters never dumlie!
There simmer first unfauld her robes,
And there the longest tarry;
For there I took the last farewell
O' my sweet Highland Mary."
GILLOWS AND LORD MONTGOMERIE
Hugh Montomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton (1739-1819), was a politician and amateur composer, who promoted and partly funded the construction of the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal, while his son Archibald, Lord Montgomerie (1773-1814), a major-general from 1809, was employed in military and diplomatic posts in Sicily and died in Alicante, Spain. Both Hugh Montgomerie and Archibald were very significant clients of Gillows', who supplied a large quantity of furniture for at least two houses. They initially supplied The Earl of Eglinton's magnificent state bed, delivered in 1800 for Eglinton Castle, Ayrshire. The total cost of this bed was £323 16s 7¼d, one of the most expensive items ever made by Gillows. The overall cost of Gillows refurbishment of Eglinton at this time exceeded £4500 while Archibald spent more than £1100 with the firm in the same period.
In 1807 Montgomerie built another residence, Coilsfield, nearby, designed by the Edinburgh architect and Robert Adam's pupil John Patterson. Gillows supplied much of the furniture for this new house including bookcases and sideboards, and bedroom furnishings including Lord Montgomerie's 'Trafalgar' bed, cheval mirror bedsteps, luggage stand and bidet, all featuring the firm's characteristic reeded decoration and geometric mouldings. A pair of drum-shaped dressing-tables, bearing the same 'Montgomerie' label as the present lot and almost certainly part of the same commission, were offered for sale anonymously Christie's, London, 19 November 2009, lot 110. Some of this furniture was probably supplied by Gillows' London workshops since the account, £4,762 7s in total, was settled in London in October 1807. The commissions are covered extensively in Susan E.Stuart (ibid).
Coilsfield, or 'The Castle of Montgomerie', features in one of Robert Burns' songs, and was well-known to Burns as it was situated on the Ayr to Mauchline road:
"Ye banks and braes and streams around
The castle o' Montgomerie,
Green be your woods and fair your flours,
Your waters never dumlie!
There simmer first unfauld her robes,
And there the longest tarry;
For there I took the last farewell
O' my sweet Highland Mary."