Lot Essay
The architectural project for Blackmoor is notable as Waterhouse's first recognised attempt to escape from a purely Gothic style; he did draw up a Gothic scheme for the house but it was rejected at time of building.
This bookcase has the 'sunflower' rosette patterning that one commonly associates with Thomas Jeckyll and an orientalising taste. Jeckyll's work was represented at Blackmoor and although of little note if considered in isolation, when this style is combined with the sophisticated proportions of the spindle-back chair and the 'latticework' construction of the settee (lot 25), one senses an adventurousness about Waterhouse's work, that was to culminate in his 'Japanese' project for the interior of Girton College, Cambridge in 1872.
This bookcase has the 'sunflower' rosette patterning that one commonly associates with Thomas Jeckyll and an orientalising taste. Jeckyll's work was represented at Blackmoor and although of little note if considered in isolation, when this style is combined with the sophisticated proportions of the spindle-back chair and the 'latticework' construction of the settee (lot 25), one senses an adventurousness about Waterhouse's work, that was to culminate in his 'Japanese' project for the interior of Girton College, Cambridge in 1872.