CIRCA 1725, POSSIBLY BY JOHN BELCHIER

Details

A GEORGE I WALNUT BUREAU-CABINET
CIRCA 1725, POSSIBLY BY JOHN BELCHIER
Featherbanded overall, the double-domed cornice with orb finials, above a pair of arched doors with bevelled plates in shaped moulded frames, enclosing a fitted grained interior with two arched compartments above a row of grained pigeon holes with two niches, each with a gilt-bronze figure in front of a secret compartment, above a pair of concave doors enclosing three drawers between divides and above a single drawer, flanked by two secret compartments disguised as two leather-bound volumes of Shakespeare, and a divide and a vertical row of drawers, above a horinzontal row of three drawers, above a pair of candle slides, the base section with a fall front with a moulded pen-rest and inside a gilt-tooled leather-lined writing-surface and a grained fitted interior with a well and pigeon holes and drawers flanking a pair of Corinthian columns incorporating secret compartments behind, with a central concave door enclosing three drawers, above two short and two long drawers with later handles, originally on bun feet, the left mirror plate replaced, restorations and replacements to the veneers, three drawers from the upper section replaced, the secretaire section possibly missing two drawers
90½ in. (230 cm.) high; 44 in. (112 cm.) wide; 23¾ in. (60.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Acquired from Philip Duncan Ltd., London, 16 December 1970.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

This double-domed bureau-cabinet is closely related to a walnut cabinet of the 1720s bearing the initials 'IB' and attributed to John Belchier of St. Paul's Churchyard (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, figs. 60 and 61). The base section of the current lot closely relates to a bureau-cabinet with a brass plaque to reverse inscribed 'made by Master Cabinet Maker John Belchier b-1683 d-1753 at 'the sign of the Sun' in St. Paul's Church Yard London C 1710-1720', sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 12-13 July 2005, lot 1217.

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