Beschreibung:

An extremely fine Victorian mahogany, parcel gilt and glazed cabinet bookcase in the Milanese taste, circa 1855, by Turner & Co of Marylebone, the cornice above a frieze of painted foliate arabesques centred by a 'V' numeral in a cartouche, the three glazed doors with arched tops and applied carved foliate decoration to the spandrels, flanked to each side by pilasters with recessed panels of conforming painted arabesques, the breakfront base with three further glazed doors and conforming panels to each side, on a moulded breakfront base, 330cm high, 300cm wide, 78cm deep Provenance: Dorchester House, London Dorchester House, designed by the architect Lewis Vuillamy was a stately mansion in Park Lane, built in 1853 for Robert Stayner Holford The library was an important room of the edifice and was specially designed to house Holford's impressive collection of books. The house was demolished in 1929 to make way for the present Dorchester Hotel LASSCO found the present bookcase in a pigsty in Hertfordshire. It is believed that, during the demolition of Dorchester House in 1928, Lady Beerbohm-Tree, on passing along Park Lane, bought this section of the bookcase from the workmen and had it delivered to her Hertfordshire home where it was fitted and remained until recently. On the sale of her house the bookcase was dismantled and moved to the piggery - reputedly an award winning sty in its time where it has remained in storage. It is not known what happened to the rest of the library bookcases, they may have been demolished with the fabric of the building. Pilasters can be found in a lobby of The Dorchester Hotel. Other parts may have been transported to Westonbirt for use there but this is merely conjecture. LASSCO has also recovered a smaller section of the same run of bookcase from the same source. It conforms to the configuration and ornament of the above section.