Inlay Wardrobes and Armoires

A super Glasgow School inlaid walnut wardrobe attributed to Wylie & Lochhead of Glasgow. With both Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau influences it featured a canted D-shaped front, rich coloured well-figured solid walnut timbers and stylised flower and bud marquetry inlay. With a shallow moulded cornice above a single bevelled mirror door flanked by inlaid, box and ebony strung walnut panels on a base with two cupboards either side of a deep central drawer, the whole raised on turned legs and feet. With brass drop handles to the doors and brass bean shaped cut-out handles to the drawer, the interior fitted with hooks and a later hanging rail. Although the canted design and bean shaped brass backed cut-out handles can be found on furniture by George Walton, this piece was probably designed by George Logan or Ernest A Taylor for Wylie & Lochhead. In good condition with some signs of age including some dark marks to the front side panels and marks to the drawer, a drying line to the base left side and some nibbles to the timber at the bottom edges of sides of the hanging section, the locks stamped ‘R C & S’ and with a working key. The overall dimensions at the largest points are approximately Width - 55 3/4in (141.5cm) Depth - 20 1/2in (53cm) Height - 77 3/4in (197.5cm) Hanging space (internal size) Width - 50in (127.5cm) Depth - 17 3/4in (45cm) at centre, 14 1/8in (36cm) at side Height - 54in (137cm) For moving this item divides into three sections (cornice, middle cupboard section and base drawer section). Wylie & Lochhead The Scottish partnership of Wylie & Lochhead was established in 1829 as a firm of general upholsterers, furnishers and funeral undertakers at 164 Trongate in Glasgow. A good reputation and skill for introducing new styles of furnishings led to early success and the firm quickly became a household name with showrooms, factories and warehouses throughout Glasgow and branches later established in Manchester and London. By the 1890s the firm was the largest cabinet-making business in Scotland and was pioneering the Scottish avant-garde through the Glasgow Style of designers such as Ernest Archibald Taylor...

Carved frame. Mother-of-pearl inlay.