A GEORGE III SATINWOOD AND ROSEWOOD SECRETAIRE-BOOKCASE
Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
A GEORGE III SATINWOOD AND ROSEWOOD SECRETAIRE-BOOKCASE

CIRCA 1780

Details
A GEORGE III SATINWOOD AND ROSEWOOD SECRETAIRE-BOOKCASE
CIRCA 1780
The rectangular moulded cornice above a simulated fluted frieze and glazed doors enclosing a pair of shelves, above a fall front inlaid with classical figural medallions, enclosing a green tooled leather-lined writing-surface and fitted interior with drawers and pigeon-holes, the panelled doors enclosing four graduated drawers, on square tapered legs, the marquetry apparently original
67 in. (170 cm.) high; 33 ½ in. (85 cm.) wide; 18 in. (46 cm.) deep
Provenance
Christie's, London, 9 March 2006, The Legend of Dick Turpin Part I, lot 209.
Special notice
Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Carys Bingham
Carys Bingham

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Lot Essay

Thomas Sheraton's, Cabinet-maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 1793 (pl. 28) illustrated a 'Secretary and Bookcase' embellished with Roman medallions, and noted that its lower section served as a clothes-press. His design was 'intended to be executed in satinwood and the ornaments japanned. It may, however, be done in mahogany and in place of the ornaments in the friezes, flutes may be substituted'. The commode doors are inlaid with medallions of festive Grecian figures bearing a torch, tazza and thyrsus, in the fashion inspired by P-F. H. d'Hancarville's publication entitled A Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities from the Cabinet of the Hon.William Hamilton, Naples, 1766. These also featured on the case of a 1784 pianoforte by the Wardour Street craftsman, Robert Stodart (C. Musgrave, Adam and Hepplewhite Furniture, London, 1996, fig. 171). The writing-fall medallions evoke poetry and ancient history and, with their female figures attending a sacred urn and an armorial trophy recalling the Palazzo dei Conservatori's 'mourning Dacia', relate to the medallions on a 1780s commode at Stourhead,Wiltshire, that has been attributed to Thomas Chippendale Junior (ibid, fig. 126).

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