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Condition: Condition Disclaimer
Under the Conditions of Sale applicable to the sale of the lot, buyers must satisfy themselves as to each and every aspect of the quality of the lot, including (without limitation) its authorship, attribution, condition, provenance, authenticity, age, suitability and origin. Lots are sold on an 'as is' basis but the actual condition of the lot may not be as good as indicated by its outward appearance. In particular parts may have been replaced or renewed and lots may not be authentic or of satisfactory quality.

Any statement in relation to the lot is merely an expression of opinion of the seller or Lyon & Turnbull and should not be relied upon as an inducement to bid on the lot. Lots are available for inspection prior to the sale and you are strongly advised to examine any lot in which you are interested prior to the sale. Our condition report has not been prepared by a professional conservator, restorer or engineer.

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Notes: Literature; Karen Moon 'George Walton: Designer and Architect', Oxford 1993, P. 82, pl. 106

Note: This fine oak cabinet with its distinctive stained glass doors was designed by the architect and designer George Walton in 1900. Walton was born in Glasgow on 3 June 1867, the youngest of twelve children. The painter Edward Arthur Walton, born in 1860, was his elder brother and the flower painter Constance Walton his sister. His father died in 1873 leaving the family in reduced circumstances and Walton had to leave school aged thirteen to become a clerk with the British Linen Bank, but while working there he also studied at Glasgow School of Art (as the School of Design had become in 1869).

In 1888 Miss Catherine Cranston commissioned Walton to re-design the interiors of the tea rooms at 114 Argyle Street, Glasgow. Walton gave up banking and opened showrooms entitled George Walton & Co, Ecclesiastical and House Decorators, at 152 Wellington Street. The Walton firm quickly expanded into woodwork, furniture making and stained glass. In 1896 Walton received a further commission from Miss Cranston, to decorate the Buchanan Street premises. His collaborator was C. R. Mackintosh, for whom Walton made some early pieces of furniture. In 1897 Walton moved to London and, as well as retaining his Glasgow showroom, opened a branch in York. The catalyst appears to have been the commission to design the Photographic Salon in the Dudley Gallery which came to him through his friendship with the Glasgow photographer James Craig Annan. It led to a further commission from George Davison for the Eastman Exhibition in the New Gallery in Regent Street in the same year, and in turn to a series of Eastman Kodak showrooms in London, Glasgow, Brussels, Milan, Vienna and Moscow which brought him international fame.

The bookcase offered here comes from this period and may have been made for a Kodak showroom. A contemporary photograph from 1900 shows a very similar bookcase in the interior of the Kodak showroom at 72-74 Buchanan Street Glasgow. From the opening of the first showroom in Clerkenwell Road London in 1898 the success of Walton's designs meant that showrooms began to open at the rate of two a year. By the time the Buchanan Street branch had opened circa 1900 his showroom designs were following a familiar pattern. Delicate stencilled friezes in the 'Glasgow Style' ran around the rooms above the picture rail and below were specially fitted cabinets in mahogany or oak. The cabinets had stained glass detailing derived from plant forms, with copper and brass detailing, relating to designs being produced by Charles Rennie Mackintosh at the same time (although without the carved details). It may be that the present cabinet was infact a domestic piece produced around the same time although it is compelling to imagine that it may have formed part of the interiors of this remarkable series of shops. The extraordinary innovation which Walton brought to retailing was the domestic nature of his designs which created a relaxed and unthreatening atmosphere in which to shop and which was to be much copied.