Object Description
A large and impressive late Regency six door mahogany bookcase attributed to Gillows, the upper section with a triple breakfront cornice above glazed doors with brass diamond trellis grilles, each enclosing adjustable shelves, the base with panelled cupboards decorated with book-matched flame veneers between turned columns with palmette terminals. English, circa 1815.
Footnote. A double Breakfront Library Bookcase Attributed to Gillows of Lancaster, c.1820
The bookcase of large form but of elegant proportions, having a pleasing low waist, always desirable on case furniture of this sort, brass grilles, a plinth base veneered in the finest mahogany and intriguing inlaid quatrefoil shaped escutcheons to the central doors.
Designed in the early 19th century “Roman” fashion, this bookcase is one of a small group of such pieces that have been linked in the past to designs provided by the Wyatt family of architects (see for example a bookcase of remarkably similar form offered by Christie’s in London on the 16th of December 2010 with an estimate of £40-£60,000). Although any link with Wyatt must remain purely speculative, the attribution of this bookcase to the firm of Gillows of Lancaster can be made with a much higher degree of confidence. This attribution is based partly on a fine suite of similar library bookcases supplied to Tatton Park and discussed in detail by Dr. Susan Stuart in Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, page 375-377, plates 443 & 444. Of even greater interest is a design for a complete library scheme supplied to the Stewart family of Glasserton House in Wigtownshire Scotland in 1819. The design drawing, preserved in Lancaster City Museums ref. LM 55.20/37, was illustrated by David Jones and Jacqueline Urquhart in their article Gillow in Scotland 1770-1830 published in Regional Furniture 1998, p. 122. The bookcase suggested for this commission was illustrated with a number of different suggested glazing schemes including the diamond-shaped brass grilles chosen for our piece.