Lot 149
149
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
A GEORGE III HAREWOOD, SATINWOOD AND MARQUETRY CYLINDER BUREAU inlaid with stylised foliate arabesques and crossbanded overall in tulipwood and amaranth, with ebony beading, with arched tambour top enclosing a fitted interior with green leather-lined writing-surface and adjustable reading-slope, with eight mahogany-lined drawers and four further secret drawers around a central set of five pigeon-holes, above a mahogany-lined frieze drawer with repeating stylised anthemion and foliate trails, the sides similarly inlaid with acanthus sprays, on square tapering legs inlaid with trailing bell husks, brass caps and leather-lined castors, restorations

Details
A GEORGE III HAREWOOD, SATINWOOD AND MARQUETRY CYLINDER BUREAU inlaid with stylised foliate arabesques and crossbanded overall in tulipwood and amaranth, with ebony beading, with arched tambour top enclosing a fitted interior with green leather-lined writing-surface and adjustable reading-slope, with eight mahogany-lined drawers and four further secret drawers around a central set of five pigeon-holes, above a mahogany-lined frieze drawer with repeating stylised anthemion and foliate trails, the sides similarly inlaid with acanthus sprays, on square tapering legs inlaid with trailing bell husks, brass caps and leather-lined castors, restorations
38½in. (90cm.) wide; 37¼in. (94.5cm.) high; 26in. (66cm.) deep

Lot Essay

An engraving for the cylindrical-topped 'tambour' writing-table on 'herm'-pilaster legs was first engraved after Thomas Shearer's design in, The Cabinet-Maker's London Book of Prices, 1788, pl.13. It represented a pattern that had been popularised during the previous decade, such as the one supplied for Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland (see: R. Edwards, Dictionary of English Furniture, 1954, p.258.)

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