A SET OF WILLIAM IV MAHOGANY LIBRARY STEPS

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A SET OF WILLIAM IV MAHOGANY LIBRARY STEPS
Of large size, with an eight-step staircase and galleried platform filled with X-shaped trellis centred by flowerheads, the hand-rails on serpentine supports, the platform on turned columns, on a rounded rectangular platform and later base, with concealed castors
98½ in. (250 cm.) high; 84 in. (213.5 cm.) wide; 31¼ in. (79.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's New York, 12 October 1995, lot 265.
A private collection, Canada.
The Barnwell Manor, Northamptonshire sale, Sotheby's, 28-30 May 2002, lot 339 (£23,900).

Literature

T. Forrest, Know Your Antiques, 1999, p. 123.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

These magnificent library steps have flowered tripod-altar rails and serpentined balusters that combine 'Roman' and Louis Quatorze elements in the fashion promoted by George Smith's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1826. Related but less robust steps were designed by Thomas Chippendale Junior in 1804 for the Eyptian library at Stourhead, Wiltshire (J. Shurmer, Stourhead, London, 1997, p. 11).

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