The tray-top trestle-ended secretaire with 'deception' turn-down drawer front derives from a 'Lady's Work Table' pattern in Thomas Sheraton's The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 1793, pl. 54; while its pilaster-trestles have palm-flowered trusses derived from a pattern in Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, pl. XIII. Similarly, its oak-wreathed 'boulle' ribbons reflect the early 19th century French manner adopted by cabinet-makers such as George Oakley for furniture supplied around 1810 for Papworth Hall, Cambridgeshire (The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, pps. 658-660).