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A fine and restrained satinwood…
Sale Title:
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
26-Jun-2024
Lot No.
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Description:
A fine and restrained satinwood banded and boxwood strung roll-top desk, attributed to Gillow and Company. English circa 1785. Provenance: A highly significant private Sydney collection. Exhibited: For many years until recently at The Union Club, Bent street, Sydney. The Gillow family of Master cabinet-makers (1728–1814). In 1728 Robert Gillow began trading in Lancaster as a joiner, builder, house carpenter, furniture maker and overseas merchant. By the summer of 1731 he had entered into a partnership with a fellow catholic, George Haresnape, which had ended by 1735. By 1734 six other names appeared on their staff list. Gillows notably made heavy use of mahogany wood, which is indigenous to the Americas, from the early 1730s. In the early 1740s, Gillow owned a twelfth share of the ship Briget, which he partially used to import mahogany from the West Indies. The success of the firm was partly due to his ability to directly import mahogany; by 1742 Gillow was exporting finished mahogany furniture back to the West Indies. On 1 January 1757 Robert entered into an equal partnership with his son Richard Gillow (1733–1811), and the firm was known as Robert Gillow & Son. Richard was also the architect for several buildings in Lancaster. He financed the building of the Catholic church in Dalton Square, Lancaster in 1798. The family's Catholic history was important in building up a customer base within Lancashire's gentry, and their subsequent purchase of Leighton Hall, Lancashire from a cousin in 1822. On 31 December 1768 Robert Gillow I retired and left his share of the firm to his other son, Robert Gillow II (1747–1795). In 1769 and 1770, a shop at 176 Oxford Street, London, was sent up by the brothers' cousin, Thomas Gillow (1736–1779), to sell their furniture. (Gillow & company's London branch remained on this site until 1906, when the newly-merged Waring & Gillow built a new store nearby; Selfridges now stands on the site of the vacated store). Dimensions: 94 cm wide, 60 cm deep, 161 cm high
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Furniture: Desks - Cutler, Roll Top and Tambour Top