A Regency Gilt-Brass Mounted Gilt-Tooled Green Leather Lined Mahogany Kneehole Desk By Gillows, Circa 1813

Supplied to William Orde-Powlett, 2nd Baron Bolton (1782-1850), Hackwood Park, Hampshire; thence by descent

Acquired with Hackwood Park by William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose (d.1954), 1935; thence by descent

Christie's London, 8 July 1999, lot 73 (£62,000)

Partridge Fine Arts, London May 2000

The present house at Hackwood Park was constructed in c.1680 for Charles Paulet, 1st Duke of Bolton (1603-87), possibly by William Talman. It was altered for the 5th Duke of Bolton in the mid-18th century by the architect John Vardy, and further enlargement and alterations were commissioned by Thomas Orde-Powlett, 1st Baron Bolton in the early 19th century from Samuel and Lewis Wyatt. In 1850 the Boltons transferred their seat to Bolton Hall in Yorkshire, and the house was let to a series of tenants, including Charles Hoare of Hoare's Bank, the Queen of the Belgians during World War I, and Lord Curzon until 1925. In 1936 the house and its contents were acquired by the newspaper magnate and Daily Telegraph owner William Berry, 1st Viscount Camrose, and after the death of the 2nd Viscount and his widow, much of the furniture was sold at a Christie's auction on the premises on 20-22 April 1998.

The additions built in the early 1800s necessitated a significant amount of furniture to fill the new rooms, and in 1813 the 2nd Baron placed a large order with the London and Lancaster firm of Gillows, in what would be one of their most important commissions of the Regency period. This precise model of writing desk could be varied to function as a dressing table, without a leather top and cupboards rather than tiers of drawers flanking the kneehole. One such table is described in a Gillows bill of July 1813 for the Center Bedroom: 'To a Mahogany hollow front knee hole Dressing Table 4ft 3 long by 2ft 0 with Reeded columns to suit Wardrobe on right brass sockett castors.' This piece was sold as lot 364 in the 1998 Hackwood house sale (£47,700).