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Lot Essay
This palm-wreathed circular 'loo' or library-table with plinth-supported and hollow-sided 'altar' pedestal is designed in the early 19th century Grecian or French antique manner popularised by T. Hope's, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807.
The manufacture of such furniture in British oak was popularised by national fervour during the early 19th century wars. In particular it was promoted by the London and Liverpool cabinet-maker George Bullock (d.1818) following his acquisition of some very old Scottish oak trees planted by the ancient family of Scott of Buccleuch from the estate of Henry Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch and 5th Duke of Queensberry (d.1812). Amongst the purchasers of Bullock's oak furniture was the author and antiquarian Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford, who mentioned his 'beautiful dining-table of Scottish oak clouded in the most beautiful style' in his Reliquiae Trottcosiences (A. Coleridge, The Work of George Bullock, cabinet-maker, in Scotland: II, Connoisseur, May 1965, pp.16-17). Bullock was also employed to furnish Napoleon's residence on St. Helena, and it was noted in The Times, 25th October, 1815 that this furniture had been designed in, the pure simplicity of the Grecian style by William Atkinson (d.1839).
The manufacture of such furniture in British oak was popularised by national fervour during the early 19th century wars. In particular it was promoted by the London and Liverpool cabinet-maker George Bullock (d.1818) following his acquisition of some very old Scottish oak trees planted by the ancient family of Scott of Buccleuch from the estate of Henry Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 3rd Duke of Buccleuch and 5th Duke of Queensberry (d.1812). Amongst the purchasers of Bullock's oak furniture was the author and antiquarian Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford, who mentioned his 'beautiful dining-table of Scottish oak clouded in the most beautiful style' in his Reliquiae Trottcosiences (A. Coleridge, The Work of George Bullock, cabinet-maker, in Scotland: II, Connoisseur, May 1965, pp.16-17). Bullock was also employed to furnish Napoleon's residence on St. Helena, and it was noted in The Times, 25th October, 1815 that this furniture had been designed in, the pure simplicity of the Grecian style by William Atkinson (d.1839).