拍品专文
This bookcase, executed in accordance with a design preserved in the Wilkinson tracings (p.98), provides an illustration of Bullock's well documented promotion of native materials which, whether motivated by patriotism or pragmatism, capitalised on the mood of the day as the Napoleonic Wars raged. As his obituary, published in Annals of the Fine Arts (VIII, 1819, pp. 321-322) remarks, 'His borders were generally designed from nature with exquisite taste, and his eye for the harmony of colour, was excessively remarkable.'
The foliate marquetry decorating the corners of the doors and the ears of the pediment, follow designs from the tracings, p.211 and p.143 respectively, as does the gilt-bronze frieze, p. 210, also found on a Bullock side cabinet sold anonymously, Sotheby's, London, 19 November 1993, lot 141. While the central pediment design is not matched exactly to any design found in the tracings, it is closely related to a similar design recorded there: p. 149. The green 'marble', which tops the lower section, appears to be 'Mona Marble', a stone which closely resembles marble when polished, acquired by Bullock from the quarry he purchased on Anglesey.
The foliate marquetry decorating the corners of the doors and the ears of the pediment, follow designs from the tracings, p.211 and p.143 respectively, as does the gilt-bronze frieze, p. 210, also found on a Bullock side cabinet sold anonymously, Sotheby's, London, 19 November 1993, lot 141. While the central pediment design is not matched exactly to any design found in the tracings, it is closely related to a similar design recorded there: p. 149. The green 'marble', which tops the lower section, appears to be 'Mona Marble', a stone which closely resembles marble when polished, acquired by Bullock from the quarry he purchased on Anglesey.