BY GILLOWS, CIRCA 1825

Details

A GEORGE IV ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONISED KNEEHOLE DRESSING-TABLE
BY GILLOWS, CIRCA 1825
En suite with the preceding lot, the rectangular hinged top enclosing a mahogany-lined fitted interior with pierced holes and compartments set in a mahogany fitted shelf, above three simulated frieze drawers above a kneehole, with three mahogany-lined drawers on each side flanked by gadrooned and bobbin-turned columns, on turned feet with sunk castors, the reverse with simulated drawers
31½ in. (80 cm.) high; 48¾ in. (124 cm.) wide; 24½ in. (62 cm.) deep

Provenance

Supplied to Peter Langford-Brooke Esq. (d.1840), for Mrs Julia Langford-Brooke's Dressing-Room at Mere Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire by Gillows of Lancaster, and by descent at Mere to Mrs Helen Langford-Brooke (+), Mere Hall; sold Christie's house sale, 23 May 1994, lot 91.
Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 12 November 1998, lot 450.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This wash-stand is also mentioned in the 1840 Inventory of Mrs Julia Langford-Brooke's dressing-room as a 'WASH-STAND TO MATCH AND PART OF A CHAMBER SET'. This piece, being designed to stand out in the room, is decorated at the back. Its reed-edged top is supported on drawer-filled pedestals, whose indented corners with tapering bobbin-turned columnettes capped by reeded vases recall the French 'antique' style, which had been introduced to London in the 1780's. The ormolu-enriched tablets with flower-centred quatrefoils incorporated in the columnettes are also in the French manner, while foliate ormolu bands embellish the plinth and form a double moulding along the frieze.

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