THE STUDY
MRS JULIA LANGFORD-BROOKE'S EBONISED BEDROOM AND DRESSING-ROOM SUITE ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOW'S OF LANCASTER
(LOTS 85-93)
This suite of George IV ebonised furniture was fashionable on three counts; firstly through its column-enrichments and colouring associated with Pompeian and Etruscan antiquity, secondly through elements of its form and ormolu embellishments being associated with the ébéniste-work of the Louis XVI period, as exemplified by Guillaume Beneman, and finally through its coluring and rich turning being considered as 'Old English' by antiquarians and Wardour Street dealers, who prized old ebony-turned Indian furniture as being 'Elizabethan'. This furniture is likely to have been commissioned by Peter Langford-Brooke (d. 1840) around the time that he was elected Sheriff of Cheshire in 1824. Its form can be related to that of a pattern for a 'Lady's Cabinet work and Upholster', 2nd ed. 1822 pl. XII., which popularised the style introduced during the previous decade by George Bullock (d.18 ) (See C. Wainwright, George Bullock, London, 1988, p. 102).
The 1840 inventory of Mrs Julia Langford-Brooke's bedroom suite comprising a dressing-room, a bedroom and a sitting-room, casts an interesting light upon the furnishings of a fashionable apartment of the 1820's. Her dressing-room contained the 'Black stained mahogany wardrobe, 8 drawers, and enclosed sliding-shelves' (lot 86); the 'Kneehole toilet-table to match with 6 scent bottles, secretaire and other drawers' (lot 90); the 'Wash-stand to match and part of a chamber set (lot )'. While the room was also furnished with printed cotton widow-curtains, a Kidderminster carpet, together with a 'black japan (painted) swing (dressing-mirror), and an easy-chair and foot-stool'.
Her sitting-room was furnished en suite with the dressing-room, and contained the overmantel mirror (lot 85); the 'Chiffonier with brass wire doors and ornaments' (lot 88); six black chairs with cane backs and seats with loose cushions (lot 93); 'a sofa bed to match, cushions, pillows, brass rods at foot and head', and the 'Sofa to match' (lot 92). One of the 'Small black tables' (lot 88) was listed here, while a companion was in the centre bedroom.
The wash-stand (lot 91), being designed to stand out in the room, is decorated at the back. Its reed-edged top is supported on drawer-filled pedestals, whose indented corners with tapering bobbin-turned columnettes capped by reeded vases recall the French 'antique' style, which had been introduced to London in the 1780's. The ormolu-enriched tablets with flower-centred quatrefoils incorporated in the columnettes are also in the French manner, while foliate ormolu bands embellish the plinth and form a double moulding along the frieze
A SUITE OF GEORGE IV ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONISED FURNITURE attributed to Gillows of Lancaster, comprising:-
Details
A SUITE OF GEORGE IV ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONISED FURNITURE attributed to Gillows of Lancaster, comprising:-
A William IV ormolu-mounted ebonised overmantel mirror with rectangular plate within a foliate and bobbin-turned frame with gadrooned capitals and patera-enriched blocks
57 x 53in. (145 x 134.5cm.)
A William IV ormolu-mounted ebonised overmantel mirror with rectangular plate within a foliate and bobbin-turned frame with gadrooned capitals and patera-enriched blocks
57 x 53in. (145 x 134.5cm.)
Provenance