The silk-fronted and brass-inlaid chiffonier with lion-paw feet relates to cabinet furniture illustrated in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary, 1803. Its bookcase, with Grecian lyre-scrolled truss, is surmounted by a trefoiled gallery similar to that on a related chiffonier bearing the retailer's stamp of William Priest and dating from around 1820 (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, fig. 748).

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tritton bought Godmersham Park in 1936, and not only rescued the house, but filled it with one of the finest post-war collections of English and French furniture in this country. The property at one time belonged to Jane Austin's brother, Edward Austen Knight, and there are letters written by her describing Godmersham and its beautiful park, traditionally thought to be the model for Mansfield Park.