CIRCA 1830

This wine cooler with its gothic tracery paneled sides and bearing the arms of Grosvenor closely relates to a suite of furniture for Eaton Hall, Cheshire. Between 1802 and 1825 the second Earl Grosvenor (1767-1845) commissioned William Porden to update and enlarge the house in the fashionable 'Gothick' style. In addition to redesigning the architectural schemes of the house, Pordon also drafted a number of pieces of furniture specifically for the elaborate interiors. See P. Lindfeld-Ott, ‘The Furnishing of a Gothic Fantasy 1803-1825: Eaton Hall, Cheshire’, Furniture History Society, 2012, pp. 155-180 for drawings of closely related furnishings with the same tracery design. Notably, a state bed designed by Porden featuring a very similar giltwood wheat sheaf was sold from Eaton Hall by Sotheby’s, 21 September 1992, lot 136. There do not seem to be extant designs for a wine cooler, nor does one appear in the main Eaton Hall auctions in 1959 or 1992. However, an engraving of the dining room by J.C. Buckler from 1826 features three wine coolers with elaborate covers nestled beneath a sideboard, so it is very likely that the current lot was indeed designed by Porden for Eaton Hall.