A GEORGE III YEWWOOD AND ROSEWOOD CYLINDER WRITING-DESK

CIRCA 1790

Details

A GEORGE III YEWWOOD AND ROSEWOOD CYLINDER WRITING-DESK
Circa 1790
The rectangular top above a rolling cylinder front enclosing a range of eight pigeonholes over four short drawers behind a pull-out writing surface with ratcheted tooled green leather inset flanked to each side by wells, the plain frieze enclosing a hidden well, on tapering square legs with brass casters, with overall tulipwood banding and boxwood stringing
41¼in. (105cm.) high, 36¼in. (92cm.) wide, 21in. (53.5cm.) deep

Lot Essay

The pattern for this elegant 'cylinder desk' is derived from Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 1792, pl. 47. Another yew-veneered bureau of this type, with drawer-activated cylinder, displays the oval ring-handles that appear on a number of pieces of furniture manufactured by Gillows of London and Lancaster in the 1790's (sold Christie's London, 26 May 1937, lot 130 and illustrated in R. Fastnedge, Sheraton Furniture, London, 1962, fig.74). A further example is illustrated in C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture: The Norman Adams Collection, Suffolk, 1983, pp.128-129. Another was sold, the property of a Gentleman, Christie's London, 6 April 1995, lot 158 (£12,075).

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