Fine George IV Period Rosewood Open Bookcase / Bookstand with Cupboard - Attributed to Gillows c.1825

Fine George IV Period Rosewood Open Bookcase or Bookstand with Cupboard c.1825, Attributed to Gillows Provenance With Moxham’s Antiques in 1995 and illustrated in the catalogue for the Winter Antiques Fair at Olympia of the year where described as ‘A rare regency pedestal bookcase in rosewood’. This fine piece has a broadly rectangular outline but with inset concave corner pilasters, giving it a particularly sophisticated form. The top has an inset leather with gilt tooled detailing, indicating that it was designed to be used to write on if necessary. The piece has three open sides for the display of books or objects but, unusually, the fourth side is a cupboard with a panelled door and Bramah-type lock. The piece is veneered in the finest quality rosewood with applied carving in the form of classical capitals to the top of each pilaster and complementary carving to the bases as well as rosette paterae around the frieze. This piece is attributed to Gillows on the basis of its similarity to a design in the firm’s estimate sketchbooks for 1831 and illustrated as plate 456 in Dr Susan Stuart’s monograph. This piece, in maple, is clearly later in date than our example but shares much of the same DNA. The great dealers Jeremy Ltd illustrated a very similar piece to ours, though with a rising top and no cupboard section, in Country Life on the 28th of December 1989 (see below). It is likely that the Gillows designs for these island bookcases or bookstands were ultimately derived from French designs by Jean-Georges Hornig. A pair of bookcases by Hornig, dating to c.1810, are in the V&A and can be seen online here: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O71388/island-bookcase-hornig-jean-georges/ They use ormolu mounts rather than carved detailing and have inset marble tops. These pieces were apparently Hornig’s speciality and it is likely that they inspired the Gillows firm to introduce similar models in to their range of pieces.