A PAIR OF REGENCY PLUM-PUDDING MAHOGANY UPRIGHT BOOKCASES

ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM TROTTER

Details
A PAIR OF REGENCY PLUM-PUDDING MAHOGANY UPRIGHT BOOKCASES
Attributed to William Trotter
Each with a scrolled pediment carved with foliage above a Gothic-arched frieze and a hinged Gothic-glazed door enclosing six adjustable shelves, the base with a gadrooned border above a mahogany-lined frieze drawer and a hinged panelled door with bobbin-turned inner border, enclosing two adjustable shelves, on a moulded plinth base, one pane cracked
107¼ in. (272.5 cm.) high; One bookcase: 23 in. (58.5 cm.) wide, the other: 23½ in. (60 cm.) wide; 12¼ in. (31 cm.) deep (2)
Provenance
Probably purchased circa 1831 by Mrs. Margaret Failie (d.1845) (née Ogilvy) for Coodham House, Symington, Ayrshire.
Thence by descent to her third son, Colonel James Ogilvy Fairlie of Coodham (d. 1870).
Thence by descent to his third son, James Ogilvy Fairlie of Myres (d.1916), Myres Castle, Auchtermuchty, Fife.
Thence by descent to James Ogilvy Fairlie of Myres (d.1960).
Thence by descent.

Lot Essay

Coodham was built by Mrs. Margaret Fairlie between 1828 and 1831.
The Gothic glazing pattern on the cabinets featured in The London Cabinet-Maker's Books of Prices, 1793-1803 (pl. 16, no. 6) while the Grecian cippus-like pediments, with palm-flowered volutes, featured on a wardrobe pattern illustrated in George Smith's, Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London, 1808 pl. 134. Their commode bases, with reeds enriching the cornices as well as the hollow-cornered panel frames, correspond to a display-pedestal provided in 1815 for Paxton House, Berwickshire by the celebrated Edinburgh cabinet-maker William Trotter (d. 1833) of Princes Street (F. Bamford, A Dictionary of Edinburgh Wrights and Furniture Maker's 1660-1840, Furniture History Society, Leeds, 1983, pl. 58).

A related pair of upright bookcases was supplied to Thomas Langford-Brooke (d.1815) by Gillows of London and Lancaster for Mere Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire. They were sold on behalf of the Executors of the late Mrs. Helen Langford-Brooke, Mere Hall, Christie's house sale, 23 May 1994, lot 192.

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