A GEORGE III MAHOGANY CABINET, English, circa 1775
Width: 4 ft ¾ in; 123.5
Depth: 1 ft 9¾ in; 55.5 cm
Further images
Note: Attributed to William Vile, the cabinet retains all the original ornate brass handles and probably original bevelled mercury silvered mirror plates. The doors conceal three adjustable shelves and three small drawers.
The workshop of William Vile was among the leading London cabinet-makers in the 18th century. Together with his business partner, John Cobb, Vile held the prestigious Royal Warrant. The firm used only the best materials and was noted for its superior craftsmanship. Some of the finest pieces of English furniture by Vile & Cobb still remain in the Royal Collection today.
A similar cabinet was supplied by Vile to the Duke of Leeds for Hornby Castle, Lancashire, England, and is now in a private collection in London.
Provenance
Private collection, England;
Ronald A. Lee Ltd., London, England;
Alfred Jowett, Hazelcroft, Killinghall, Yorkshire, England;
Carlton Hobbs Ltd., New York, USA;
The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, USA;
Mallett & Son Ltd., London, England;
Private collection, Australia.
Literature
Christie’s, ‘Fine Old English Furniture - Continental Porcelain - Old English Silver and Pictures by A. Canaletto - The Property of His Grace The Duke of Leeds’, sale catalogue, 10 June 1920, p. 12, lot 94.
‘Hornby Castle - The seat of the Duke of Leeds’, Country Life, 14 July 1906, pp. 54-64.
Illustrated:
R. W. Symonds, ‘Provincial Furniture of the XVI to the XVIII Centuries, illustrated by examples in the collection of Mr. Alfred Jowett of Killinghall’, Connoisseur, November 1940, p. 196, no. VIII.
Mallett & Son Ltd., London, catalogue, 2014, pp. 216-19.
