AMBROSE HEAL (1872-1959) FOR HEAL & SON, LONDON ARTS & CRAFTS ‘MANSFIELD’ PRESS, CIRCA 1898 no. ‘235’, probably made by the Guild of Handicraft, oak, with patinated iron fittings, stamped to the drawer HEAL & SON

(139cm wide, 191cm high, 59cm deep)

Literature: Heal, Oliver S. Sir Ambrose Heal and the Heal Cabinet Factory 1897-1939, Unicorn 2014, cover illustration, also p.157 where a similar example is illustrated. Note: Ambrose Heal turned to C.R. Ashbee and the Guild of Handicraft workshops in Essex Road, Mile End to produce much of his earliest bedroom furniture output. The Guild produced eleven of these ‘Gentleman’s Wardrobes’ before the production moved to their own workshops circa 1899.