A NEAR PAIR OF REGENCY MAHOGANY DRESSING-TABLES

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GILLOWS (LOTS 1031-1043 and 1045) The renowned firm of cabinet-makers, Gillows of Lancaster, was founded circa 1730 by Robert Gillow. The firm's reputation rests on the high quality furniture it produced in the second half of the eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century. The firm's zenith was reached in the Regency period, and continued to prosper after the departure of the Gillow family from the business in 1813. The firm continued trading under their original name and received the Royal Warrant in 1863. Major commissions the firm carried out for country houses included Glynllifon, Caernarvonshire for the Barons Newborough, Hackwood Park, Hampshire for the Barons Bolton, Tatton Park, Cheshire for the Egertons and Sheffield Park, Sussex for the Earls of Sheffield. Gillows' designs are painstakingly recorded in the City of Westminster Archives. They begin in 1784 and continue to 1899 and comprise some 20,000 patterns for furniture. These designs were never published. The firm jealously protected their designs in order to guard their innovation and preserve the fashionable designs of their patrons. The style associated with Gillows is distinctive. They developed a coolness and restraint in their designs, which some have perhaps unfairly interpreted as 'austere'. Yet this has not prevented the firm's work being highly revered. Gillows' sober and restrained designs, their many multi-purpose pieces, the exceptionally high quality of timber and workmanship and the exclusivity of their patterns have ensured the firm's long lasting reputation as the quintessential English cabinet-making firm of the late 18th and 19th century.

A NEAR PAIR OF REGENCY MAHOGANY DRESSING-TABLES

ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A NEAR PAIR OF REGENCY MAHOGANY DRESSING-TABLES
ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Each with a solid three-quarter gallery, above two frieze drawers with later rosewood handles, on reeded tapering legs, with brass caps and castors, minor variations
Dressing-table A: 32¾ in. (83 cm.) high; 35¾ in. (91 cm.) wide; 20¾ in. (52.5 cm.) deep;
Dressing-table B: 32½ in. (82.5 cm.) high; 35¾ in. (91 cm.) wide; 20¼ in. (51.5 cm.) deep (2)

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

In the first quarter of the 19th century, with the 'advent of comfort', Gillows of London and Lancaster supplied many country houses, such as Nostell Priory and Tatton Park, with high-quality mahogany furniture. They were particularly successful at providing bedroom furniture en masse for these large country houses, with items such as dressing-tables, luggage-stands, mirrors, stools, chests-of-drawers, clothes-presses and four-post beds, often being supplied in large quantities, and sometimes as pairs, like the current lot.

Gillows supplied two related dressing-tables to William Powlett, 2nd Baron Bolton (d. 1850) for Hackwood Park, Hampshire in 1813. They were sold by the Estate of the late 2nd Viscount Camrose, Hackwood Park, Christie's house sale, 20-22 April 1998, lots 359 & 360. A single similar dressing-table was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 30 November 2000, lot 318.

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