CIRCA 1810

Warwick Castle, a medieval fortress situated in Warwickshire, England, is one of the country's most beloved historic properties. It was a ruin when Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke (d.1628) obtained the grant of the Castle from James I in 1604. Greville, one of the most extraordinary men of his age, had been a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I and was consulted by her on the establishment of the East India Company in 1600. He subsequently invested in the company and assisted it in his role as Treasurer of the Navy. Thus, while there are long established ties between the East India company and the Greville family, no such concrete link has been established between his descendant Sir Francis Greville (1719-73), 8th Baron Brooke (1727), later 1st Earl of Warwick (1759). Although he does not appear to have ordered armorial porcelain, Greville presumably must have maintained some trading ties with the East India Company - and certainly displayed a penchant for Export furniture evidenced by these writing tables, as well as by a suite of eight Export lacquer chairs supplied to him (one chair from this suite is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (FE.116&A-1978), and two others were formerly in the Simon Sainsbury collection and sold Christie's, London, 18 June 2008, lot 185). A similar writing table to this pair, also from Warwick Castle, was sold by the Trustees of the Warwick Castle Resettlement, Christie's, London, 21 March 1968, lot 127.