A GEORGE II BURR-WALNUT ARCHITECT'S DESK
A GEORGE II BURR-WALNUT ARCHITECT'S DESK

CIRCA 1730

Details
A GEORGE II BURR-WALNUT ARCHITECT'S DESK
Circa 1730
The double-ratcheted top with re-entrant corners and double-banded edge above pullout front legs and frieze enclosing a fitted interior with writing slide, the front with two short and two long drawers, the sides with lifting handles, the back also veneered, on bracket feet
30in. (76cm.) high, 36in. (91cm.) wide, 22¼in. (57cm.) deep
Sale room notice
Please note the additional provenance for this lot:
Jack Dick, Dunellen Hall, Greenwich, Connecticut, sold Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, 20 September 1975, lot 394.

Lot Essay

This metamorphic writing-commode/chest-of-drawers is fitted with carrying-handles and has a hinged top with book-rest while its legs are attached to the frieze drawer containing a writing surface and swivelling compartmentalized drawer. This type of ingenious multi-purpose furniture is illustrated in the advertisement print or trade card issued by Thomas Potter, who was in partnership with John Kelsey in the 1730s (illustrated in C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch, John Channon and brass-inlaid furniture, 1730-1760, London, 1993, fig. 11).

A writing-desk of this form with fluted front supports is illustrated by P. Macquoid and R. Edwards in The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. edn., 1954, vol.II, p.44, fig.39; its apparent pair with closely matching timbers, fitted as a dressing-table, was sold, the Property of a Lady, Christie's London, 4 July 1996, lot 260. A similar desk of this form with recessed kneehole was sold by Mrs. K.M. Moore, Christie's London, 10 April 1986, lot 174. Another was sold by Mrs. E.R. Stewart, Christie's, London, 16 July 1953, lot 53.

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