A GEORGE III MAHOGANY BREAKFRONT BOOKCASE

The bookcase is designed in the late George III 'Roman' fashion promoted around 1800 by the Wyatt architectural dynasty lead by James Wyatt (d. 1813), and with its superb flame-figured mahogany typifies the libraries fitted out under their direction by Messrs Gillow of London and Lancaster. With its Grecian cornice, reeded pilasters enriched by acanthus-wrapped Roman trusses, and bas-relief palms flowering the frieze and hollow-cornered tablets of the commode doors, it relates to Gillow's 'large Elegant Mahogany Library Bookcases' fitted up in 1811 in the Library created by Samuel and Lewis Wyatt at Tatton Park, Cheshire. Its cornice is likewise veneered in a richly striated South American timber, which was called 'Venatica' by Gillows, whose extensive Lancaster warerooms were famous in this period for being stocked with 'every article of useful and ornamental mahogany furniture' (see N. Goodison and J. Hardy, 'Gillows at Tatton Park', Furniture History, 1970, plates 6A, 6B and 7A; and J. Hardy, 'Gillow Furnishings and the Tatton Park Library, 1811', Regional Furniture, 1998 pp.94-98). This bookcase pattern also featured in Gillow's 1819 Library Plan for Glasserton House, Wigtownshire, together with an alternate glazing scheme including brass-work in the Tatton fashion (D. Jones and J. Urquhart, 'Gillow in Scotland 1770-1830', Regional Furniture, 1998, pp. 119-154, fig. 2). The present reed glazing, mosaiced in triumphal arch compartments, relates to patterns later popularised by George Smith's, Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1826/7.