This bookcase owes much of its inspiration to Thomas Chippendale's designs published in the 1754 "Director" (plate CVI) with their spirited interplay of Rococo, Chinoiserie and Gothic motifs; however the cabinet maker's application of these design motifs are here realized in a more exuberat and playful way.
The cabinetmakeing firm of Richard Wright and Edward Elwick was the most prominent in Yorkshire in the second half of the eighteenth cetnury and their country house work prospered particularly in the 1760's. The patronage that this partnership received reached the same level as Robert Gillow's firm based in Lancaster and London. Some of Wright and Elwick's most reputable clients... |
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