Each with broken arch cresting with pounced ground centred by a lappet and flanked by scrolling acanthus and flaming finials, above an arched cupboard door flanked by pilasters decorated with pagodas, birds and figures by a stream enclosing three fixed shelves, on giltwood stands decorated with acanthus on cabriole legs terminating in pad feet, the cresting, stands and metalwork later
80 in. (203 cm.) high; 29¹⁄₂ in. (75 cm.) wide; 19 in. (48 cm.) deep

Probably acquired from Mallett, London in the 1940s or 1950s by Sir David Wills (1917-1999), Sandford Park, Oxfordshire and thence by descent to
Dr. Catherine Wills (1950-2022), Sandford Park.

R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, Vol. II, London, 1954, pp.174-5, fig. 1 (one cabinet).

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Lot Essay

Sir David Wills (1917-1999), a scion of the Wills tobacco family, was a philanthropist who established the Ditchley Foundation in 1958; an internationally respected centre for conferences, with the purpose of promoting Anglo-American dialogue post-World War II. He and his wife Eva, purchased the Ditchley estate from the 7^thEarl of Wilton in 1953, initially for the land it provided to farm, rather than the impressive early Georgian house but soon realised it too had great potential. Dr. Catherine Wills, Sir David’s daughter continued his legacy as a life trustee. Catherine was an art historian with a doctoral thesis on the Scottish portrait painter Sir Francis Grant and a great supporter of many other charitable causes. The following items came from their family home and the proceeds will support the Ditchley Foundation.