A George III mahogany china cabinet (pictured left) became one of the most expensive pieces of English furniture ever sold when it took $2.2m (£2m) during the opening salvos of Christie’s New York sale of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection, writes Roland Arkell.
An undisputed ‘ace’ of English furniture, this ‘glasscase’ was supplied by the St Martin’s Lane cabinet-maker William Vile to Queen Charlotte (1744- 1818) for the Bow Closet in St James’s Palace.