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Lot Essay
With its veneer of floral marquetry and kingwood parquetry almost certainly reused from a William and Mary cabinet-on-stand, this bachelors' chest reflects the 'antiquarian' taste most usually associated with connoisseurs in the early 19th Century. In both form and construction, however, it is certainly possible that this 'antiquarian' reconstruction could have taken place somewhat earlier, perhaps during the 18th Century.
An 'antiquarian' cabinet of closely related character, almost certainly altered in the early 19th Century by Gillows of Lancaster for Peter Brooke (d.1840) of Mere Hall, is recorded in its transformed state in the Inventory of 1840 as:-A Beautiful inlaid cabinet, marble top and nest of drawers over ditto, with Pannels of marble painted & ebony. This latter cabinet was sold by Mrs. Langford-Brooke at Christie's house sale, Mere Hall, Cheshire, 23 May 1994, lot 58.
An 'antiquarian' cabinet of closely related character, almost certainly altered in the early 19th Century by Gillows of Lancaster for Peter Brooke (d.1840) of Mere Hall, is recorded in its transformed state in the Inventory of 1840 as:-A Beautiful inlaid cabinet, marble top and nest of drawers over ditto, with Pannels of marble painted & ebony. This latter cabinet was sold by Mrs. Langford-Brooke at Christie's house sale, Mere Hall, Cheshire, 23 May 1994, lot 58.