The furniture made by Thomas Chippendale for Dumfries House is one of the most completely documented collections of his work. This lecture considers the furniture how it related to the commission and to the designs of Thomas Chippendale. It will also examine other furniture commissioned by William Crichton-Dalrymple, 5th Earl of Dumfries by Francis Brodie, the Edinburgh cabinet maker, whose son William Brodie became the model for Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and other cabinet-makers. The saving of Dumfries House by the intervention of Prince Charles and its subsequent restoration will also be touched on. 

Jonathan Meyer graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Theology, and has worked for Bonhams, Sotheby's and the Fine Art Auction Group; he also headed up the 19th Century Furniture Department for Sotheby's in Europe. He has lectured in America, Singapore and Taiwan and written numerous articles, including contributions to British Furniture 1600-2000 (2005), and published Great Exhibitions: London, New York, Paris and Philadelphia, 1851-1900 (2006). He is a fellow and past chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Fine Arts and Antiques Faculty. He now runs his own valuation and consultancy business and also works part time as a priest in the Anglican Church.