Mahogany bookcase

From WikiCover

On August 28, 2007, the culture minister of Great Britain has placed a temporary export bar on a very rare and interesting piece of English furniture. This will provide a last chance to raise the money to keep the early Gillows bookcase in the United Kingdom.

Margaret Hodge's ruling follows a recommendation by the reviewing committee on the export of works of art and objects of cultural interest, administered by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The committee recommended that the export decision be deferred on the grounds that the bookcase is of outstanding significance for the study of eighteenth century English non-metropolitan furniture.

The bookcase is of the most superior quality, finished to the highest specification. Its importance is not based on its quality alone. It is a rare and early documented example of Gillows furniture, made about forty years after the establishment of the Lancaster firm.

It was made for Mary, widow of a substantial Lancaster merchant Thomas Hutton Rawlinson. The varied ornamentation of the bookcase is perhaps curious given its owners were Quakers. It became a family heirloom and was passed down in the family for several generations. A further interesting feature is that there is a strong likelihood that is was made of mahogany imported by the family who commissioned it, the Rawlinsons themselves.

The decision on the export licence application for the bookcase will be deferred for a period ending on October 27, 2007 inclusive. This period may be extended until January 27, 2008 inclusive if a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase the bookcase at the recommended price is expressed.

Website: http://www.culture.gov.uk/