Very Large Library Bookcase
Very large triple breakfront mahogany bookcase attributed to Gillow's, the cornice of moulded section above fine flame veneers, matching the cupboard doors of the lower part, the eight tall glazed cabinet doors with rectilinear astragals with distinctive scrolls at the top ending in circular ebony paterae, and framed by six ebony-panelled and three triple-reeded pilasters, the mahogany and ebony square-beaded waist moulding above eight similarly panelled and framed cupboard doors, their flame-figured veneers ebony-strung and cross-banded, on a finely veneered plinth base. English, c. 1815.
Height 10'5" (3,17m).
Width 18'3" (5,56m).
Depth 20" (50cm).
This exceptionally large bookcase is also notable for the particularly fine use of timber. Not only are the cupboard doors of very finely figured flame veneer, but unusually the cornice is similarly veneered and even the plinth is of remarkably fine veneer. The firm of Gillow’s is a byword for the quality of the furniture it produced and for the materials used in its construction, and the design of this bookcase also relates to others produced by the firm, such as the well-known set at Tatton Park, Cheshire, of 1811.(1) Other bookcases by Gillow’s of the same distinctive triple and reverse breakfront form as the present example, are those supplied to Sir John Shaw Stewart, Ardgowan House, Renfrew, in 1802, and to Edward Hobson, Hope, Manchester, in 1811.(2) The form also features in the designs of the firm from slightly earlier, such as a ‘Gothic Library Bookcase’ supplied to Daniel Leo, Llanerch Park, St. Asaph in 1795 and a ‘Library Bookcase for Mr. Stainbank’, of 1797.(3)
A related, smaller bookcase, with similar cornice and glazing bars, was recently on the market, having previously been in the collection of the Graham family, Golant, Cornwall.(4)
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Footnotes
1. See, for example, Susan E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, 2008, Vol. I, pp. 374-376, and figs. 443-445. The form of the cornices is very like that of the present bookcase.
2. Susan E. Stuart, op. cit., Vol. I, fig. 439, p. 372 and fig. 440, p. 373.
3. See Lindsay Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs, 1760-1800, 1995, figs. 170 and 168.
4. See Christie’s London, West East, The Niall Hobhouse Collection, 22nd May 2008, lot 90.
