Lot Essay
A pattern for a related tripartite 'Serpentine Dressing Chest' with four tiers of drawers and bracket feet appears in The Cabinet-Maker's London Book of Prices, London, 1788, pl. 20, fig. 1. The chest-of-drawers also relates to the base of a writing-cabinet attributed to Gillows that is now at Temple Newsam House (see: C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, no. 29).
The collection of the Brooke family at Mere Hall in Cheshire was a perfect illustration of the taste for antiquities, and objects inspired by the antique, that epitomised sophisticated English taste in the late 18th and early 19th Century. To accompany pictures and objects acquired in Italy, the family patronised Gillows of Lancaster for a long period in the early 19th Century, acquiring beautiful quality sober mahogany furniture.
The collection of the Brooke family at Mere Hall in Cheshire was a perfect illustration of the taste for antiquities, and objects inspired by the antique, that epitomised sophisticated English taste in the late 18th and early 19th Century. To accompany pictures and objects acquired in Italy, the family patronised Gillows of Lancaster for a long period in the early 19th Century, acquiring beautiful quality sober mahogany furniture.