The umbrella stand, with galleried vase shelf and brass enrichments, has flowered and folliated enrichments reflecting the enthusiasm for 'Art botany' promoted by Christopher Dresser (d. 1904), the self-styled 'ornamentist', who contributed to Owen Jones's Grammar of Ornament, 1859 and whose numerous publications included, Studies in Design, 1874-6, Principles of Decorative Design, 1873, and Modern Ornamentation, 1886. Patterns for a variety of related 'hat and umbrella stands' featured in the 1876 catalogue of James Shoolbred and Company.