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Lot Essay
The heiress Miss Wilson married a Russian prince to become Princess Alexis Dolgorouki. Renowned for her love of entertaining, she wanted a house in the Thames Valley for weekend river parties and it was to Sir Edwin Lutyens that she turned as architect for the site at Taplow, Buckinghamshire. Lutyens achieved his brief briliantly at Nashdom between 1906-1908, not by the expenditure of vast sums of money, but by brilliant manipulation of space and levels. In effect, he created a whitewashed brick palace that was a classical villa of which Nash would have been proud.
These shelves, with their distinctive knopped wooden handles and demi-lune glazing bars, relate directly to fitted furniture designed by Lutyens and still in situ at Nashdom. Amusingly, it still retains the fragrant smell of scent powder, for which purpose it was removed to the stables at Nashdom for use by the monks!
These shelves, with their distinctive knopped wooden handles and demi-lune glazing bars, relate directly to fitted furniture designed by Lutyens and still in situ at Nashdom. Amusingly, it still retains the fragrant smell of scent powder, for which purpose it was removed to the stables at Nashdom for use by the monks!