A PAIR OF REGENCY ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND BRASS-INLAID ROSEWOOD LOW BOOKCASES

A bookcase of similar design, but with a brass gallery and veneered top, was supplied by George Oakley to James Henry Leigh (d.1823) for Stoneleigh Abbey, Warwickshire between 1813 and 1819. The Stoneleigh bookcase was sold Christie's King Street, 8 June 2006, lot 25.

George Oakley (d.1840) operated the Bond Street firm, Oakley & Co., 'Manufactory and Magazine for fashionable Furniture' which attracted the patronage of George IV when Prince of Wales and Prince Regent. The Capesthorne bookcases of black-figured rosewood are embellished with brass bas-reliefs and 'boulle' inlay in the early 19th century antique/Louis Quatorze fashion to evoke the poetry deity Apollo. Their pilasters are inlaid with 'trompe l'oeil' flutes in altar-tripod fashion and are raised on the paws of the mythical griffin, sacred to the sun and poetry deity.