BB 10 - A top quality Walnut bureau bookcase by Lambs of Manchester with open upper bookcase with adjustable shelves, fall down writing area opening to reveal fitted interior & leather writing area & bow fronted support below with 2 cupboard doors & shaped base. Circa 1880's. Height 67", Width 33 1/2", Depth 21 1/2". £2295.
Lambs of Manchester was founded by James Lamb in C1840 & were one of the most successful late nineteenth-century British cabinetmakers. They commissioned work from a number of notable designers, such as W.J.Estall who's work they exhibited at the London Exhibition of 1862, Bruce Talbert, Charles Bevan & also made furniture designed by Alfred Waterhouse for the Manchester Assize Courts shown twice in Paris in 1867 & 1878 & the French designer Hugues Protat. The quality of their cabinet work was of the highest order, & won them many prizes at several International Exhibitions in which they exhibited. They supplied furniture to the new up & coming middle-classes & the elite living in Manchester but their reputation grew rapidly & soon their furniture was sold far & wide. Sadly there is not a great deal of information on Lambs but what always stands out from many other manufacturers of the period is that their furniture was one of the top 3 in design & quality of the Gothic Revival, Aesthetic & Anglo-Japanese Periods. They were taken over by Goodhall & Heighway to form Goodhall, Lambs & Heighway in 1899.
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