Designed in the George II 'antique' or 'Palladian' manner promoted by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, and the artist architect William Kent (d. 1748), this pedimented and tablet-enriched bookcase relates to a pettern for a 'Tuscan Bookcase' published by Batty Langley in his City and Country Builder's and Workman's Treasury of Designs, 1740, pl. CLVII. The large scale of the glazing bars relates to those of the bookcase supplied by Messrs. William Vile and John Cobb to Queen Charlotte in 1762 (see: R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1964, p. 55)
A related bookcase, from Herriard Park, Hampshire, was sold from the collection of the late Sir Philip Shelbourne, Miles Place, Salisbury, Christie's house sale, 25-26 October 1993, lot 157