拍品专文
This model of desk is based on a design published by Thomas Sheraton in his The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book, London, 1802, pl. 58. It is a model that was made by Gillows of London and Lancaster from 1840 to circa 1860, many of which bear the firm's stamp. The design of this desk closely relates to two sketches for 'An Oak pedestal and Kidney table' in one of Gillows' Estimate Sketch Books, dated 1840.
The signature on the bottom of the central drawer is almost certainly that of William Barrow, cabinet-maker of Liverpool who is named in the Gillows records between 1800 and 1840. He may well be a relation of John Barrow whose pencil signature appears on a very similar burr-walnut kidney-shaped desk, stamped 'GILLOW', and sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 15 November 1996, lot 113.
An almost identical burr-walnut desk stamped by Gillows was sold from the collection of the late Alice Tully, Christie's New York, 26 October 1994, lot 165 and another, also stamped, was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 5 May 1989, lot 139.
The signature on the bottom of the central drawer is almost certainly that of William Barrow, cabinet-maker of Liverpool who is named in the Gillows records between 1800 and 1840. He may well be a relation of John Barrow whose pencil signature appears on a very similar burr-walnut kidney-shaped desk, stamped 'GILLOW', and sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 15 November 1996, lot 113.
An almost identical burr-walnut desk stamped by Gillows was sold from the collection of the late Alice Tully, Christie's New York, 26 October 1994, lot 165 and another, also stamped, was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 5 May 1989, lot 139.