Circa 1825, the ovolo moulded cornice above a central pair of doors comprising a pair of panels over two short and two long dummy drawers, enclosing a brass hanging rail and an adjustable shelf, flanked to each end by a twin panelled door enclosing a brass hanging rail, on eight turned bun feet, with rosewood handles, 199cm wide x 65cm deep x 221cm high, (78in wide x 25 1/2in deep x 87in high)

Footnotes

Two closely comparable wardrobes to the present lot were made by Gillows during the period 1820-1835 and both feature in S.E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, Vol II, 2008, Woodbridge, pp.'s 67-69, pl.'s 614 & 615. The first was supplied by the Gillow firm to Charles Herbert Pierrepoint, 2nd Earl Manvers, in 1822 for Thoresby Hall, near Newark in Nottinghamshire. Susan Stuart notes that, due to the relative plainness of this example added to the fact it appears under the heading 'Late Family Bedroom' in the 1822 invoice addressed to Earl Manvers, it was evidently intended for use by someone of lesser status than the Earl's family. Thus, in quotation from Idem, p. 67, Stuart concludes:

"It is just the sort of wardrobe which would have originally graced a judge's bedchamber, which it now occupies in the Judges' Lodgings Museum, Lancaster."

The second wardrobe, which is constructed (as with the offered model) from beautiful mahogany timber of superb quality, was most likely executed by Gillows between 1820 and 1835. However unlike the present version, this is stamped: 'Gillows Lancaster and was probably originally purchased or commissioned by the Spedding family. This is evidently the case since it currently resides at Mirehouse, Buttermere, near Keswick in Cumbria after its re-location from Winter Brow, both of which are Spedding properties Idem, p. 68. Despite all having very similar exterior configurations, perhaps the most interesting difference between these related examples and the above is that the former employs actual drawers to the lower part of the central bay while on the latter there are dummy drawers forming the lower part of the main doors.

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