AN ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND POLYCHROME-PAINTED MAHOGANY BOOKCASE

Details

AN ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND POLYCHROME-PAINTED MAHOGANY BOOKCASE
The moulded rectangular cornice surmounted by a scrolling anthemion and stiff-leaf frieze and above a fluted frieze, the pair of panelled doors decorated with books, letters, candles and ink-pots and a Vanitas skull, flanked by parcel-gilt herms with mille-raies panels to each side and enclosing three shelves, the lower section with a drawer decorated with a violin and sheets of music, above a pair of doors conformingly decorated and flanked by herms, enclosing two shelves, on an inverted breakfront plinth, two shelves later, the drawer partially relined, later decorated
47 in. (119.5 cm.) wide; 93 in. (236 cm.) high; 17½ in. (44.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

The late Rupert Gunnis, Hungershall Lodge, Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Lot Essay

Thomas Hope's, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London, 1807, promoted the fashion for Egyptian-hermed and ormolu-enriched furniture. The cabinet's cornice pattern of Grecian palm-flowers derives from the frieze of a chair illustrated in pl. XXII (no.5).

Rupert Gunnis, was the author of The Dictionary of British Sculptors, London, 1951.

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