Lot 53: - William Eden Nesfield (1835 - 1888) , A rare sideboard

circa 1870 oak, the dentil moulded cornice above parcel-gilt embossed leather foliate panels, the lower open shelf backed by fielded panels and bevelled mirror panels flanked by pierced supports, the lower section with a frieze drawer above panelled cupboard doors and an open shelf, flanked by further cupboard doors carved with lozenge motifs and stylised foliate roundels

measurements 215cm. high by 192cm. wide by 61cm. deep; alternate measurements 7ft ¾in., 6ft 3¾in., 2ft

The gift of the artist to John McKean Brydon on the occasion of his wedding, and thence by descent

Before establishing his own successful London practice, building the Chelsea Town Hall among other commissions, John McKean Brydon was a clerk in the shared office of Nesfield and Richard Norman Shaw from 1866 to 1871. Very little of Nesfield's furniture is known. This sideboard shows the influences both of the 'Old English Style', the creation of which is jointly credited to Nesfield and Norman Shaw, as well as the Japanese elements which can be further seen is his designs for his lodge at Kinmel Park, Wales. Photographs of chimneypieces and furniture designed by Nesfield were published in the Building News in 1891, including another sideboard with stylistic affinities to the current lot made for Henry Vallance's house at Farnham Royal, Buckinghamshire (1867-69) (see below).