A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY BOW-FRONTED SECRETAIRE-BOOKCASE

Details

A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY BOW-FRONTED SECRETAIRE-BOOKCASE
Crossbanded overall in satinwood and with rope-twist bands, the arched cresting, centred by a pair of entwined dolphins with rockwork and foliage above a French hunting-horn with laurel flanked by palmettes, the corners with paterae above a pair of brass trellis- glazed doors enclosing two adjustable shelves and flanked by spiral columns with stiff-leaf capital, the lower section with a fitted secretaire-drawer, the drawer front dropping to reveal a further three drawers in the thickness of the flap and enclosing a fitted interior of pigeon-holes and drawers around a central door and a green baize-lined writing-surface enclosing a further green baize-lined writing-surface on ratcheted supports, the flap with detatchable brass candle-branches with circular drip-pans, the fitted section of the secretaire-drawer with a further arrangement of small drawers hidden behind, above a pair of panelled doors inlaid with scroll angles enclosing two part mahogany-lined sliding-trays, the lower section flanked by spirally- reeded columns, on hairy-paw feet, with remains of C. I. M. storage labels on the reverse, lacking reading stop on rattcheted slope, one pane cracked
47in. (119cm.) wide; 97in. (246cm.) high; 25in. (63.5cm.) deep

Provenance

Acquired by the 1st Viscount Leverhulme from Moss Harris & Sons, 29 May 1918 and numbered by him X2626
Sold by direction of the Executors of the late 1st Viscount Leverhulme (removed from Cheshire), Knight, Frank & Rutley, 10-11 June 1926, lot 197

Literature

P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1924, vol. I, p. 147, fig. 59
R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1954, rev. ed., vol. I, p. 159, fig. 83
R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, p. 88, fig. 56

Lot Essay

The bow-fronted cabinet is designed in the early 19th Century French/Grecian manner promoted by Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet Encyclopaedia of 1804-6. It is richly carved with reed-twined columns terminating in Bacchic lion-paw feet and a triumphal palm-flowered cornice displaying a poetic trophy of Venus' dolphins laurel-entwined with Diana's hunting-horn. However the brass-lozenged trellis of its doors comprise elements adapted from a 'Doors for Bookcases' pattern issued earlier in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 1793, Appendix, pl. XXVII. The bureau-cabinet formed part of the collection of William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (d. 1925), whose enthusiasm for English furniture, particularly of the Georgian period, was demonstrated by his establishment of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, which was opened in Port Sunlight in 1922. Another part of his collection was displayed at his Cheshire home, Thornton Manor, and this bookcase was among the items removed from Cheshire and included in Messrs. Knight, Frank & Rutley's sale of 10-11th June 1926 (lot 197).

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