A Fine and Rare George III Japanned and Parcel-Gilt Secretaire-Cabinet Attributed to George Brookshaw circa 1785-1790

with carved giltwood and molded composition ornament, the molded flat cornice with foliate ornament centered by open shelves flanked by slightly extended pilasters painted with terracotta pots filled with climbing jasmine plants, the projecting lower with curved ends and flanked by pilasters, the frieze centered by a rectangular panel painted with swags of summer flowers on a white ground and opening to a mahogany-lined drawer with a fall-front and fitted with a rectangular box with divisions, flanked by ribbed gilt curved panels, one side with an oval painted with a chained draped cherub with a quiver of arrows, the other with a similar cherub holding a chaplet, the cupboard below with a door painted with swags of blue-tasseled drapery above a suspended wicker basket filled with a profusion of summer flowers on a white ground, the curved side panels similarly painted with drapery, the pilasters painted with terracotta pots filled with climbing morning-glory vines, the turned tapered feet with foliate gilt composition ornament.

There are no obvious restorations to the cabinet other than some replaced moldings to the sides. However it has suffered several losses throughout to the carved gilt wood and composition ornament particularly on the legs. Overall the painted surfaces are also in untouched state, with some rubbing and craquelure to the surface overall, the top of the projecting lower part with ingrained dirt with some staining. Basically, the cabinet requires sympathetic and careful conservation by a very competent cabinet maker, carver and gilder who has the knowledge to restore and revive 18th century painted surfaces.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

George Brookshaw's career is fully documented and discussed by Lucy Wood, published in two articles  in Apollo Magazine, 'George Brookshaw The case of the vanishing cabinet-maker', May 1991 and  June 1991, "George Brookshaw 'Peintre Ebeniste par Extraordinaire' The case of the vanishing cabinet-maker; Part 2". She notes that 'Brookshaw's house style is distinctive and centres on floral decoration; jasmine, roses and morning-glory being particular favourites among a large repertoire - a legacy from his work as a botanical illustrator', all attributes found on the present cabinet, and the following footnote is almost wholly dependant on her original research.

 

Brookshaw was born in Birmingham in 1753, the son of George Brookshaw senior whose occupation is unrecorded, although his brother Richard, born in 1749, is recorded later in Paris working as an engraver. Nothing is known of his career before 1777 when he apparently moved to London, marrying in 1778 Sobieski, the daughter of William Grice a wealthy Birmingham gun-maker who was almost certainly the source for the capital he would have required to set up his own business as a cabinet maker, firstly in Curzon Street and then in late 1782 to 48 Great Marlborough Street where he remained for some twenty years. No record of his activities as a cabinet maker appear to exist after the mid 1790s, Lucy Wood remarking that the following several years of anonymity were 'probably an attempt to escape financial and/or sexual scandal'. After the presumed closure of his cabinet making business it is conjectured that he worked as an illustrator of botanical books and as a drawing master under the alias of 'G. Brown', who published a sequence of editions of a single work A New Treatise on Flower Painting which was first published anonymously in 1797, a subsequent edition being published in 1799 under the authorship of 'G. Brown'. However, the virtually the same work with an identical title was published in 1816 under the author's name 'George Brookshaw Esq.', indicating that Brown and Brookshaw were one and the same person. Brookshaw finally returned from obscurity to publish under his own name Ponoma Brittanica which was issued in parts from 1804 to 1808. Brookshaw died in 1823 in Greenwich.

 

During his career as a cabinet maker Brookshaw is recorded as having a number of illustrious clients including Lord Delaval (1781-83), the Duke of Beaufort (1787), William Blathwayt (17910, and probably The Duke of Devonshire (c. 1782), Lord Monson (c. 1784?), Sir Mark Wood of Piercefield (c. 1794?) and Sir William Middleton of Shrubland Park (c. 1795?) and, finally, The Prince of Wales, Carlton House, for whom he supplied a commode in 1783. Although this unfortunately does not survive in the Royal Collection, the account describes it as 'an Elegant Commode Highly finished with a Basket of Flowers Painted in the front of the Body & sprigs of jesamine all over the Tops & Do on the fronts of the body with carv'd & Gilt mouldings & Legs, £50.0.0.'.

 

The description of the decoration of the Prince of Wales's commode is clearly related to the present cabinet which is almost identical in design to two other cabinets illustrated by Lucy Wood (op. cit., figs 1 and pl. IV and fig. 2). The first is one of a pair formerly at Piercefield Park, Monmothshire, the other a single example from Shrubland Park, Suffolk. Each is surmounted by an arched flat paneled cornice, the first with two glazed doors with gothic-arched astragals, the second having doors fitted with chicken wire. The decoration of the Shrubland Park cabinet is almost identical to the present example, the lower door being centered by a basket of flowers surrounded by 'sprigs of jesamine' as on the Prince of Wales's commode, the doors of the Piercefield Park are painted with allegorical subjects after Angelica Kauffman.

 

 The building of Piercefield Park commenced by Soane in 1785, although it was not until 1793 when the estate was purchased by Colonel, later Sir, Mark Wood, that many of the interiors were finished and at which time the cabinets were purchased from Brookshaw.  The house was also fitted with chimneypieces which were almost certainly supplied by Brookshaw, his advertisement of 1788 in the Morning Herald declaring that 'Mr. Brookshaw acquaints the Nobility and gentry, that wish to fit up a suit of rooms in a superior style, that he has finished, and in hand, a variety of the most elegant articles; consisting of pier tables, cabinets. Commodes, quines, book-cases, candilabriums, girandoles, glass frames, &c. together with a great variety of new-fashioned chimney-pieces, to correspond with his furniture, which are all made in a style peculiar to himself, in copper and marble, and painted and burnt-in, in a manner which gives them a peculiar evidence'.                

 

The present cabinet, although requiring some restoration, is in a remarkable untouched condition, retaining the original water-gilding to the carved wood and molded composition decoration, the flower-painted and allegorical panels retaining their original fresh colors. Although slightly softer in color, the pale blue and pink-japanned plain surface clearly illustrates the palette of the late neo-classical period. Curiously, the interior of the mahogany drawer, although neatly constructed, retains its original dry, unpolished surface and brass fittings which are identical to a cabinet in The Lady Lever Art Gallery (See: Lucy Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, no. 29, figs. 1x, x.  

 

 

See:

Apollo Magazine,  May 1991,  and June 1991, Lucy Wood, 'George Brookshaw, "Peintre Ebeniste par Extraordinaire" The case of the vanishing cabinet-maker: Part 2', pp, 383-397  

Lucy Wood, Catalogue of Commodes The Lady Lever Art Gallery, London 1994, no. 29, pp. 239-242, figs 1-10.