Of desirable proportions and superb colour, the very good quality Regency mahogany chest of drawers having a rectangular top with featherbanded border and bowed front, above three graduated cockbeaded drawers, each with brass ring drop handles, all being oak lined, flanked by brass terminated Corinthian capital pilasters, and raised on stylised reeded feet, the whole surviving from early nineteenth century England.
Unknown.
The influences on Regency design and taste were legion; from Sheraton’s neoclassicism, Henry Holland’s Anglo-French taste, the Greek revival of Thomas Hope, and the Chinoiserie favoured by the Prince Regent, to an interest in the Gothic, Old English and rustic. The Regency attitude to interior decoration often involved treating each room as a unit with individual furnishings and wall decorations in harmony of theme or colour scheme.
This chest displays some of the very early William IV sensibilities with the furniture of the Regency era becoming slightly more robust and chunky but retaining all of the Regency trademarks. We haven’t seen this particular combination of the brass Corinthian pilasters nor the reeded feet before.
A stand out example of its type.
The drawers glide smoothly, the whole is sturdy and in good original order aside from the handles, which are slightly later replacements we believe, though they are of the period. The mahogany has taken on a superb patina, and commensurate with age has a few areas of loss and surface markings, with the top being wonderfully rich with darker markings as photographed. There is a fissure to one flank of the chest. We have given her an oil and hand waxed the whole but most importantly have otherwise left her as is. The original backboards are in place, with one taped repair and the feet are all original.
By appointment only.
