A George III four poster bed with mahogany end posts finely carved with wheat sheaves and drapery, painted cornice in attractive Etruscan colours and oak head posts and oak rails.
The bed including the cornice is largely original but the posts have been extended in height and so could be reduced to fit a lower ceiling. I read in Susan E.Stewart Gillows Book that painted cornices became fashionable after 1780 for pratical reasons ~ carved cornices collected dust and were difficult to clean at height. The author also says that though Gillows would often supply the complete bed they often just supplied the carved mahogany posts and left the fitting of the oak rails and deal cornice to the local joiner.
The attribution of the bed to Gillows is based on Stewart's pictures of bedposts on page 341. While our posts are not identical the profile and reeding in illustration (a) and the rope twist and the flat section in illustration (c) are so similar that we believe the posts were almost certainly made by Gillows.
Provenance Yester House, East Lothian, Scotland a fine Palladian House which was worked on by the architects William Adam and later his sons Robert and James for the Marquess of Tweedale. Photos show the bed in situ at Yester House.

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