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Lot Essay
The richly carved, ormolu-enriched and three-tiered bookcase is designed in the early 19th Century antiquarian manner combining antique, Gothic and French elements. It stands on bacchic lion-paws issuing from Roman acanthus, while its open-fretted ormolu gallery is embellished in the Tudor/Gothic manner with trefoiled foliage, and this is echoed by the foliage wreathing the antique stippled plinth, as well as the pilasters and moulded steps. The material-paned doors bear arabesque-fretted panels displaying the badges of the United Kingdom and are headed by numerical and rose-flowered ormolu labels. England's Tudor-rose badge appears in octagon compartments in the centre case and are framed by foliated ribbon-scrolls. While Ireland's shamrock-festooned harp is displayed in the upper case amongst palm-flowered ribbon-scrolls; Scotland's thistle flowers the lower case. Similar brass grills feature on an elegant book-cabinet in the 1814 edition of Rudolf Ackermann's The Repository of Arts, where it is noted that 'gilt ornaments relieved upon silk curtains produces a pleasing and tasteful effect' (pl. 62). Ackermann's 1810 Repository had previously illustrated a tiered and vase-capped bookcase, whose rollers were concealed in 'substantial lion feet', in a manner invented by the Strand cabinet-maker Messrs Morgan and Sanders (P. Agius, Ackermann's Regency Furniture and Interiors, London, 1984, p. 48, pl.13).
Octagon bookcases on paw feet were illustrated by Thomas Sheraton (d.1806) in his Cabinet Dictionary, 1803, and in his uncompleted Cabinet-Maker, Upholsterer's and General Artist's Encyclopaedia (1804-6). In the promotion of the latter enterprise Sheraton paid a visit to Ireland, where he obtained the patronage of the Lord Lieutenant.
This book-cabinet is likely to have been designed by Robert Mack, and bears the label of the cabinet-makers and upholsterers Mack, Williams & Gibton, who held the court appointment as 'Upholders' to the King's Architectural Board of Works.
The partnership of John Mack, Zachariah Williams and William Gibton traded together from 1810 in Stafford Street, Dublin until John Mack's death in 1829, when Williams and Gibton continued to work together until the death of Gibton in 1842. This bookcase dates from between 1810 and 1816, the year when the Royal arms changed: the escutcheon was ensigned with a royal crown, rather than an electoral bonnet as shown on Mack, Williams & Gibton's label on the bookcase.
The Board of Works was a government board with an appointed architect who was in charge of official architecture. Mack, Williams and Gibton were the principal furniture suppliers to the Board, furnishing the State Apartments and other rooms at Dublin Castle, the Four Courts, the War Office, the Barracks Office, the Treasury and the Viceregal Lodge (now Aras an Uachtarain). A large hall table and a serving-table by Mack, Williams and Gibton and in Dublin Castle are illustrated in A. Alexander, 'A Firm of Dublin Cabinet-Makers, Mack, Williams & Gibton', Irish Arts Review, 1995, pp. 146-147, figs. 12 and 13).
Octagon bookcases on paw feet were illustrated by Thomas Sheraton (d.1806) in his Cabinet Dictionary, 1803, and in his uncompleted Cabinet-Maker, Upholsterer's and General Artist's Encyclopaedia (1804-6). In the promotion of the latter enterprise Sheraton paid a visit to Ireland, where he obtained the patronage of the Lord Lieutenant.
This book-cabinet is likely to have been designed by Robert Mack, and bears the label of the cabinet-makers and upholsterers Mack, Williams & Gibton, who held the court appointment as 'Upholders' to the King's Architectural Board of Works.
The partnership of John Mack, Zachariah Williams and William Gibton traded together from 1810 in Stafford Street, Dublin until John Mack's death in 1829, when Williams and Gibton continued to work together until the death of Gibton in 1842. This bookcase dates from between 1810 and 1816, the year when the Royal arms changed: the escutcheon was ensigned with a royal crown, rather than an electoral bonnet as shown on Mack, Williams & Gibton's label on the bookcase.
The Board of Works was a government board with an appointed architect who was in charge of official architecture. Mack, Williams and Gibton were the principal furniture suppliers to the Board, furnishing the State Apartments and other rooms at Dublin Castle, the Four Courts, the War Office, the Barracks Office, the Treasury and the Viceregal Lodge (now Aras an Uachtarain). A large hall table and a serving-table by Mack, Williams and Gibton and in Dublin Castle are illustrated in A. Alexander, 'A Firm of Dublin Cabinet-Makers, Mack, Williams & Gibton', Irish Arts Review, 1995, pp. 146-147, figs. 12 and 13).