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Following an early career as a Durham carpenter, William Atkinson (d.1839) trained in the London office of celebrated architect James Wyatt, eventually succeeding him as Architect to the Board of Ordnance. By c.1800 Atkinson had achieved independence, going on to become a prominent country house architect receiving prestigious commissions, such as to design and furnish a residence at St. Helena for the defeated Emperor Napoleon. Atkinson's undertakings in furniture design are documented in drawings held in the family archives at Scone Palace, Perthshire, which he reconstructed for the 3rd Earl of Mansfield. The drawings demonstrate a translation of Atkinson's baronial antique Gothic architectural style into furniture design; several were published in the sale catalogue from Christie's London, 'Scone Palace and Blairquhan', 24 May 2007. The use of ebony-inlay to articulate the ornament of the Scone furniture supports the supposition that this was the work of cabinet-maker George Bullock (d.1818). Atkinson and Bullock certainly collaborated on the interiors of Abbotsford, Roxburghshire, home or Sir Walter Scott, where letters demonstrate a close working relationship between the pair.

A REGENCY OAK AND EBONISED LINE-INLAID BEDSIDE CUPBOARD

DESIGNED BY WILLIAM ATKINSON, CIRCA 1811, POSSIBLY BY GEORGE BULLOCK

Details

A REGENCY OAK AND EBONISED LINE-INLAID BEDSIDE CUPBOARD
DESIGNED BY WILLIAM ATKINSON, CIRCA 1811, POSSIBLY BY GEORGE BULLOCK
With a hinged fall front, the lower part of the legs added, restorations and replacements
34 in. (86 cm.) high; 13 in. (33 cm.) wide and deep

Provenance

David William Murray, 3rd Earl of Mansfield (d. 1840), Scone Palace, Perthshire; and by descent until sold Christie's, London, 24 May 2007, lot. 400

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.

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Lot Essay

The bedroom-apartment night-table, designed in the French marriage chest fashion, is ribbon-inlaid in black in harmony with various early nineteenth century fashions such as the Louis Quatorze, Grecian and Elizabethan fashions. Its robust architecture reflects the handsome baronial antique gothic fashion adopted by William Atkinson (d.1839).

Atkinson contributed designs to the London and Liverpool cabinet-maker George Bullock (d.1818), whose 'British Oak' furnishings in his 'tasteful repository' in London's Tenterden Street was lauded in Rudolph Ackermann's, Repository of Arts, 1816.

William Atkinson's design for a 'Bedside Table' is in the Family Archive, Scone Palace, Perthshire.

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