GEORGE III MAHOGANY SERPENTINE CHEST OF DRAWERS, ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES BLAIKIE
CIRCA 1769
£10,710
Auction: Select Property from Penicuik House, Midlothian - 27th March 2024 at 10am
Description
the serpentine top with a C-scroll and bellflower carved edge over four graduated long drawers flanked by angles carved with trailing flowers, the base moulding carved with leaf tips, all raised on foliate carved ogee bracket feet with castors
Dimensions
116cm wide, 101cm high, 58cm deep
Provenance
Sir James Clerk, 3rd Baronet of Penicuik (1709 – 1782), Penicuik House, Midlothian. Thence by descent
Footnote
Note: One of two chests of drawers supplied by James Blaikie to Penicuik House in 1769, and listed as a ‘half-Chest'. Blaikie, as the principle carpenter on the development of the Penicuik interiors and furniture, would have acted as agent and had the chest made by an Edinburgh cabinetmaker to his specifications. The two chests of drawers supplied came with a combined bill of £4 10s and are heavily influenced by designs from Chippendales Director. This chest has a more restrained ornamentation than its counterpart, lot 58, but still benefits handsomely from the foliate carved mouldings that outline its shape. Like in lot 58, the names of the individual craftsmen who made this piece, have not been recorded in the journal of Sir James.
Literature: Francis Bamford, “Plenishings at Penicuik House”, Country Life, 7 August, 1975, pgs. 332-334