Exceptional Gillows Regency Rosewood Jardiniere

Exceptional example of an early 19th Century antique rosewood veneered ‘table’ jardiniere, attributed to Gillows. The open tray top with lead liner. The tray section of rectangular shape with two beaded mouldings to top and bottom, the lower and smaller-scale moulding of a type particularly associated with the work of Gillows in this period. The top supported on four turned columns with acanthus leaf moulding to the centre and terminating in scrolling ends supported on short platforms joined with a turned stretcher and with out-scrolling legs and boldly carved paw feet. The rosewood of exceptional faded colour throughout. ‘Table’ jardinieres of various sorts seem to have been something of a speciality of the Gillows firm with the smaller round tables with removable wooden tops encountered fairly regularly on the art market. These larger examples, designed to be purely jardinieres and therefore without the wooden inset tops, are much rarer survivals. A slightly later design, also attributed to Gillows, was sold by Sotheby's on the 30th of May 2001. Also in rosewood, it shares many features with our table but the base is of a 19th century Gothic design and not the more refined design seen on our piece. The design for the Sotheby's piece relates to Nos. 3480 and 3496 in the Gillows Estimate Sketch book for 1826. A jardiniere is the perfect way to bring the outside inside-creating a green space in an interior. With the advent of glass houses and the rise in fashionable hot house gardening in Britain, all sorts of jardinieres were constructed for use in the homes of the wealthy at the time with the present piece being one of the most sophisticated of examples. This is the perfect focal point for any room and a very practical piece of furniture that is as useful today as the day it was made.