This chest and its pair (displayed to the right) were made for Sir Thomas Robinson (d. 1777), an amateur architect who designed his own country seat at Rokeby Hall, Yorkshire in an austere neo-Palladian manner. Designs by his own hand for bookcases survive and it is possible that he was involved in the design of these chests. They are made from mahogany, imported from the West Indies in increasing quantities through the eighteenth century. Bought by Queen Mary in 1930 Cat. 117