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Lot Essay
This bookcase is closely related to a design by the Lancaster and London cabinet-makers Gillows for a 'Library Bookcase with a new sort of writing drawer' preserved in their Estimate Sketch Book for 1798-1803 (No. 344/98, fol. 1696) in the City of Westminister Archives. The annotations in the Estimate Sketch Book indicate that the bookcase was supplied to Mr Richard Worswick in 1802, one of Richard, George and Robert Gillow's cousins, at a cost of £64 13s 8d, and was made in the Gillows workshop by Isaac Robinson. Particular features in common with the present lot include the lancet glazing bars, domed 'Tuscan' cornice and arrangement of drawers above doors to the base section, including the 'new sort of writing drawer' with alphabet covers, private drawers and a baize-lined slide that became typical of the firm's best work in the 1780s (S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Woodbridge, 2008, vol. I, pp. 367 and 372).
A further bookcase similar in design (though slightly taller) was made by Francis Dowbiggen in 1804 for Richard Worswick's brother Alexander Worswick (1764-1814), sold Sotheby's London, 29 November 2000, lot 49 (ibid, vol. II, p. 384, pl. GG41). A design dated 15 July 1797 for Mr. Stainbank, for a bookcase of almost identical dimensions to the present lot is illustrated in L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, fig. 168. The Stainbank bookcase, with its triple-breakfront was made by the journeymen S. Bryan (or Bryham) and T. Fell.
The cushion-moulded sections flanking the central domed cornice of the present bookcase differ from the triangular sections of the above related bookcases; however such cushion-moulded sections can be seen on bookcases made for Sir John Shaw Stewart of Ardgowan House, Inverkip, Renfrew, in 1802 (S. Stuart, op. cit., vol. I, p. 372, pl. 439).
A further bookcase similar in design (though slightly taller) was made by Francis Dowbiggen in 1804 for Richard Worswick's brother Alexander Worswick (1764-1814), sold Sotheby's London, 29 November 2000, lot 49 (ibid, vol. II, p. 384, pl. GG41). A design dated 15 July 1797 for Mr. Stainbank, for a bookcase of almost identical dimensions to the present lot is illustrated in L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, fig. 168. The Stainbank bookcase, with its triple-breakfront was made by the journeymen S. Bryan (or Bryham) and T. Fell.
The cushion-moulded sections flanking the central domed cornice of the present bookcase differ from the triangular sections of the above related bookcases; however such cushion-moulded sections can be seen on bookcases made for Sir John Shaw Stewart of Ardgowan House, Inverkip, Renfrew, in 1802 (S. Stuart, op. cit., vol. I, p. 372, pl. 439).