A GOTHIC REVIVAL HAREWOOD, TULIPWOOD, EBONY AND MARQUETRY INLAID WALNUT SIDE CABINET

Whilst it has not been possible to trace a link between Crace & Co and Peter Ormrod the design, quality and execution of this cabinet fits well within the known oeuvre of the famed cabinet makers who carried on interpreting the designs of A.W.N. Pugin for many years after the cessation of their partnership due to Pugin's untimely death in 1852. A closely related cabinet of earlier date designed by Pugin and supplied by Crace for Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire, is photographed in the drawing room there, see C. Wainwright, 'Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire-II', Country Life, 20 May 1993, p. 91, pl. 3. Wyresdale Park, a picture perfect mid-19th century Gothic revival mansion was built for Peter Ormrod, a wealthy Bolton banker from 1856 to the designs of architect E.G. Paley, so, whilst not substantiated, the suggested provenance seems highly probable. See also the pair of chairs in the preceding lot.