Footnotes

The distinctive brass inlay featured on this lot and the two either side of it closely relate to a group of furniture associated with the leading early 19th century cabinet maker George Oakley, who traded under a number of partnerships at various addresses including premises at Old Bond Street.

The firm was celebrated for its production of fashionable furniture in the Grecian taste during the decades following the turn of the 19th century, and was one of the pioneers of 'Buhl' inlay, a form of decoration that regained popularity during the early years of the Regency. Materials such as rosewood, mahogany and calamander were commonly used in Oakley's furniture, combined with inlays of satinwood and ebony, and brass often featuring stars and bands of metalwork.

Visits by the royal family to Oakley's Bond street show rooms are recorded in the Morning Chronicle of 1799. In May: 'the ROYAL FAMILY, with the PRINCE and PRINCESS of ORANGE did Mr. OAKLEY the honor of viewing his Printed Furniture Warehouse in New Bond Street; when her MAJESTY, the Duke and Duchess of YORK, and the PRINCESSES, & c., highly approved of the splendid variety which has justly attracted the notice of the fashionable world.' The accolade of Royal Appointment followed shortly and on 2 July an entry in the Morning Chronicle advertising the wide stock of fabrics available at 67 New Bond St is headed: 'GEO. OAKLEY and Co. FURNITURE PRINTERS to her MAJESTY'.

Besides commissions for the Prince Regent at Carlton House, other notable patronage included the supply of furniture and upholstery for the Mansion House and the Bank of England. Outside London, Oakley supplied furniture for the Cheere family of Papworth Hall, Cambridgeshire. The firm's invoice for a bookcase there, lists a 'mahogany winged library case in the Grecian stile', sold Christie's London, 18 November 1993, lot 117. Other pieces from the Papworth Hall commission include a set of quartetto tables sold in the same rooms, 9 April 1992, lot 109 (see G. Beard and C. Gilbert ed.'s, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840, London, 1986, pp.'s 658-660.

Comparative Literature
P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, enlarged, London: Rev. ed. Country Life, 1954., Vol. III, p. 269, fig. 17.
L. Synge, Furniture in Colour, 1977, p. 64.
F. Collard, Regency Furniture, Woodbridge, 1987, p. 317.
Mallett, The age of Matthew Boulton - Masterpieces of neo-classicism, London, 2000, pp.'s 94-95 and pp.'s 112-113.
Ronald Phillips, Fine Antique English Furniture, 2018, pp.'s 158-159.