Provenance

The original firm was founded in 1803 as cabinetmakers and upholsterers by partners William Holland and Stephen Taprell, trading as Taprell & Holland until 1835, Taprell, Holland & Sons until 1843 and Holland & Sons after 1843. By 1851 the firm employed over 350 men and in 1852 it incorporated the prestigious firm of Thomas Dowbiggin (1788-1854), taking over its Mount Street premises. Holland & Sons received commissions for furnishing many of the government buildings and clubs built in nineteenth century London including the Athenaeum, the Reform Club and the British Museum. The firm also worked on many royal commissions for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, making furniture for Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Osborne House, and Balmoral.

The firm was entrusted with the sensitive task of creating this new cabinet to contain relics of the departed Prince for the room at Windsor Castle in which he died, the Blue Room. The style and choice of wood was suggested by furniture already in the room.

Made for Queen Victoria (£259 2s 8d, AAD, Holland Archive, 13/75, K-Q, 1864, fols 632–3; RA MRH/SUPT WC/Bills, quarter to March 1865)