Described as a 'Double Chest of Drawers' in the pattern published in A. Hepplewhite & Co's Cabinet-Maker's and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788, pls. 53 and 54, it follows their advice for inserting 'fluted pilasters at the angles'. Like the frieze of libation paterae and flutes, this represents the 'antique' influence of Robert and James Adam's Works in Architecture, 1774; and the latter replaces Chinese ribbon fretwork that features on a related chest supplied in the early 1770s to Nostell Priory, Yorkshire and attributed to Thomas Chippendale. (See: C. Gilbert, Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, fig. 207)