A GEORGE III MAHGOANY AND MARQUETRY WASH-STAND attributed to Gillows, the bow-fronted twin-flap rectangular top inlaid with ovals and enclosing a fitted mahogany-lined interior with eight lidded- compartments flanking three pierced holes and with rising mirror to the reverse, lacking plate, the frieze inlaid with ribbon-tied foliate- arabesques, above a pair of doors with fan-angles between cornucopiae and foliate-trail pilaster-strips above a further mahogany-lined long drawer, simulated as two drawers, on line-inlaid square tapering legs, with inscription N.H

Details
A GEORGE III MAHGOANY AND MARQUETRY WASH-STAND attributed to Gillows, the bow-fronted twin-flap rectangular top inlaid with ovals and enclosing a fitted mahogany-lined interior with eight lidded- compartments flanking three pierced holes and with rising mirror to the reverse, lacking plate, the frieze inlaid with ribbon-tied foliate- arabesques, above a pair of doors with fan-angles between cornucopiae and foliate-trail pilaster-strips above a further mahogany-lined long drawer, simulated as two drawers, on line-inlaid square tapering legs, with inscription N.H
22¼in. (56.5cm.) wide; 33¼in. (84.5cm.) high; 21¼in. (51.5cm.) deep
Provenance
Almost certainly supplied to Thomas Langford-Brooke on his marriage to Maria Broughton in 1790

Lot Essay

Messrs. A. Hepplewhite & Co's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788, p. 80, illustrated this pattern of elliptical-fronted dressing or shaving-mirror with oval medallion inlay with the explanation, 'the tops of which turn over on each side; the glass to each draws up the back and is supported by a spring stop.. within the doors is a place for water bottles, etc. The drawer is designed to hold napkins etc'. This example is richly inlaid with scrolled and flowered branches that are ribbon-tied on the frieze and suspended from wheat-filled cornucopiae on the pilasters as featured on a semi-circular sideboard sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 2 February 1991, lot 266. The shaving-table supplied for Thomas Langford-Brooke (d. 1815) by Messrs. Gillows has flute-inlaid feet corresponding to those of the drawing-room card-table (lot 53)

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