Lot Essay
With the Marchioness of Rockingham's Cabinet, it is here suggested that this is a masterpiece of the Wakefield firm of Wright and Elwick. This attribution is discussed in the introduction before lot 33 but in summary, it is based on the close adherence to a design from Thomas Chippendale's Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, unusual construction, and foliate handles. In this case, as in that of lot 69, the attribution is supported by there being an almost identical cabinet, illustrated above, at Nostell Priory. A reference to Elwick in a letter to Sir Rowland Winn supports the belief that the firm worked at Nostell Priory.
This dressing-chest's arched recess is enriched with Roman acanthus between the pedestalled chests-of-drawers, and above nests-of-drawers that buttress the mirrored bookcase. Its 'picturesque' ornament reflects the French or modern style popularised by Chippendale's Director, and its pattern derives from his 'Dressing Chest and Bookcase', pl. CXIV. The base, with gadroon wreathed by convex and concave reeds, has its frieze drawers fitted for slides and compartments as 'conveniences for writing and dressing'. The handles are the popular pattern that Chippendale adopted for the pair of commodes that he almost certainly supplied to Goldsborough Hall, Yorkshire, circa 1770, and which is now at Harewood House (see: C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, II, fig. 226).
This dressing-chest's arched recess is enriched with Roman acanthus between the pedestalled chests-of-drawers, and above nests-of-drawers that buttress the mirrored bookcase. Its 'picturesque' ornament reflects the French or modern style popularised by Chippendale's Director, and its pattern derives from his 'Dressing Chest and Bookcase', pl. CXIV. The base, with gadroon wreathed by convex and concave reeds, has its frieze drawers fitted for slides and compartments as 'conveniences for writing and dressing'. The handles are the popular pattern that Chippendale adopted for the pair of commodes that he almost certainly supplied to Goldsborough Hall, Yorkshire, circa 1770, and which is now at Harewood House (see: C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, II, fig. 226).