AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY IRISH MAHOGANY FRAMED DOUBLE BED, probably Cork, the headboard with carved quarter patterae, surmounted with a spiral turned arched cross beam supported by spiral turned tapering pillars, the footboard with conforming spiral decoration and with reeded finials. 168cm wide x 212cm longCork Furniture - Furniture became more readily available in provincial centres in the early nineteenth century and the street directories list the names of many cabinetmakers even in small market towns. The urban and trading middle class had been on the ascendant from the middle of the eighteenth century, with the development of large scale producers in the milling and linen industries. Merchants invested in industrial development, as did many landowners. In the early nineteenth century, the directories indicate that numerous towns sustained a range of shops offering a wide selection of goods supporting luxury trades including cabinetmakers, although information on these individuals and the furniture they produced is scant. Cork in particular, supported a thriving cabinetmaking trade producing distinctive furniture in the early nineteenth century. Cork had blossomed culturally with many new institutions founded after 1800. By then it was the second city in Ireland, with a population of 106,000. In 1835, when Robert Graham visited the city, he praised its wide, airy streets and ‘magnificent harbour.’ He described Patrick Street as handsome and ‘one not easily matched in many places.’By 1846 there were thirty-one cabinetmakers listed in the directory for Cork, with sixteen of these listed as both cabinetmakers and upholsterers. This is a considerable number (Belfast had fifteen and Limerick just nine) and there were also listed two chair-makers, eight carvers and gilders, including Richard Clarke at 20 Cook Street, as well as five furniture brokers and three upholsterers. The city sustained twelve architects and ten painters. Other luxury trades included chimneypiece manufacturers, engravers and copper plate manufacturers, jewellers, gun makers, umbrella and glove makers, watch and clock makers. Cork cabinetmakers produced furniture, which reflected knowledge of published patterns, but retained distinctive elements that deserve further investigation.