A Regency Mahogany kneehole dressing desk, made by Gillows for the Montgomerie familly.

English, circa 1810

A George III Regency mahogany kneehole dressing table, the top with a brass gallery above three drawers all retaining their original handles, the drawers set above two figured cupboards doors centred by four tapering fluted columns. The underside of the kneehole with a bone label 'MONTGOMERIE'

Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton (1739–1819), a politician and amateur composer, was a notable patron of public works, most significantly helping to fund the Glasgow, Paisley and Ardrossan Canal. His son, Archibald Montgomerie, Lord Montgomerie (1773–1814), served as a major-general from 1809 and held military and diplomatic postings in Sicily, before dying in Alicante, Spain.

Both father and son were among Gillows of Lancaster and London’s most important clients, commissioning large quantities of furniture for at least two major residences.

In 1800, Gillows supplied the 12th Earl with a magnificent state bed for Eglinton Castle, one of the firm’s most ambitious commissions. The bed cost £323 16s 7¼d, making it one of the most expensive items Gillows ever produced.

In 1807, Lord Montgomerie commissioned the construction of a second residence—Coilsfield House, situated near Eglinton Castle. The house was designed by John Patterson, an Edinburgh architect and pupil of Robert Adam. Gillows of Lancaster and London furnished the new interiors, supplying a wide range of items including bookcases, sideboards, and a suite of bedroom furniture. Among the latter were Lord Montgomerie’s so-called ‘Trafalgar’ bed, a cheval mirror, bedsteps, luggage stand, and bidet—all displaying the firm’s distinctive reeded decoration and geometric mouldings.

The present dressing table was almost certainly part of these original furnishings for Coilsfield, commissioned alongside other documented pieces. A pair of drum-shaped dressing tables, each bearing the same ‘Montgomerie’ label and closely related in form and decoration, were offered for sale anonymously at Christie’s, London, 19 November 2009, lot 110.

While Gillows’ Lancaster workshop undertook much of the production, the final account—totalling £4,762 7s—was settled in London in October 1807, suggesting that elements of the commission may have been completed by the firm’s London branch.

These commissions are extensively documented in Susan E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730–1840, Antique Collectors’ Club, 2008.