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Lot Essay
This writing-table relates to a pattern illustrated in Gillows General Sketch Book, 1810, p. 51. A similar brass-inlaid rosewood reading-table, by Gillows, was supplied to William Powlett, 2nd Baron Bolton (1782-1850) for Hackwood, and sold by the Estate of the 2nd Viscount Camrose, Hackwood Park, Hampshire, Christie's house sale, 20-22 April 1998, lot 20 (£21,850).
This table was probably acquired by the 4th Duke of Newcastle, who inherited the title in 1795 at the tender age of ten. Clumber Park was built in a fashionable Palladian style in 1760 for the 1st Duke to designs by the architect Stephen Wright. The 4th Duke commissioned the architect Sidney Smirke to add a new library in 1829 and it was probably around this time that the reading-table was acquired. A view of the library in a 1908 Country Life article on Clumber hints at the original magnificence of the collection. Clumber was eventually demolished in 1938, its remaining contents being sold by Christie's in 1937.
This table was probably acquired by the 4th Duke of Newcastle, who inherited the title in 1795 at the tender age of ten. Clumber Park was built in a fashionable Palladian style in 1760 for the 1st Duke to designs by the architect Stephen Wright. The 4th Duke commissioned the architect Sidney Smirke to add a new library in 1829 and it was probably around this time that the reading-table was acquired. A view of the library in a 1908 Country Life article on Clumber hints at the original magnificence of the collection. Clumber was eventually demolished in 1938, its remaining contents being sold by Christie's in 1937.