PAIR OF GILTWOOD AND IVORY PAINTED DWARF BOOKCASES PROBABLY BY HENRY HOLLAND

June 12 2009, 12:05pm

English. Circa 1795. The design of the present pair of bookcases reveals the understated influence of French neoclassicism in England during the late 18th century. This manner of design is most strongly associated with the designer and architect Henry Holland (1745-1806), among whose most celebrated works were Carlton House for the Prince Regent, later George IV, and Southill Park in Bedfordshire. The bookcases can be associated with Holland through comparison with the furniture of Southill, strongly attributed to the architect. The curious shaped feet to the rear of the bookcases are a distinctive feature, a variation of which is found on a pair of rosewood commodes of French form, which stand in Mrs. Whitbread’s room at Southill. The metalwork of the bookcases is also strongly in the Holland style. The crossed grills to the side of the bookcases are repeated to the sides of a raised stand on a rosewood pier table in the drawing room at Southill.