Lot Essay
The secretaire, designed in the French 'antique' manner popularised by Thomas Sheraton's 'The Cabinet Dictionary', London, 1803, is embellished with ormolu lion-paw feet and a slab of golden-veined black 'Portor' marble. Its finely-figured black rosewood veneer incorporates a poetic 'Apollo-sunflower' medallion within a golden lozenged compartment with palm-flowered spandrels. The pattern for its lozenged-trellis grille featured in Sheraton's 'Commode' design of 1802 (pl.37), while its lozenged frame features on a 'Secretary' pattern of 1803 (pl.71).
This secretaire has several characteristics that link it with the work of William Marsh who supplied furniture for Southill, Bedfordshire, the house remodelled at the end of the 18th Century by Henry Holland for Samuel Whitbread II. Much of the furniture at Southill displays an understated and elegant use of French ornament. The delicately fluted frieze on our secretaire corresponds to the celebrated rosewood china cabinet that was supplied by March circa 1795 for the Boudoir. This cabinet also has small anthemion ormolu mounts framing the glazed panels similar to those on the secretaire. There is a group of extremely high quality rosewood furniture at Southill, all with finely-chased ormolu mounts, and marble tops, which appears to be from the same workshop as the Coke secretaire. In Mrs. Whitbread's room there is a shallow commode with a large rosette on the front centred by a marble relief of a woman's head and a pair of chiffoniers en suite, both designed by Holland and probably executed by Marsh. A rosewood tambour-topped desk, acquired for Southill in 1811, has an identical gallery on its marble top to our secretaire (F.J.B. Watson, 'The Furniture and Decoration', Southill, A Regency House, London, 1951, p.24,27, figs.34,35,36 and 39).
This secretaire has several characteristics that link it with the work of William Marsh who supplied furniture for Southill, Bedfordshire, the house remodelled at the end of the 18th Century by Henry Holland for Samuel Whitbread II. Much of the furniture at Southill displays an understated and elegant use of French ornament. The delicately fluted frieze on our secretaire corresponds to the celebrated rosewood china cabinet that was supplied by March circa 1795 for the Boudoir. This cabinet also has small anthemion ormolu mounts framing the glazed panels similar to those on the secretaire. There is a group of extremely high quality rosewood furniture at Southill, all with finely-chased ormolu mounts, and marble tops, which appears to be from the same workshop as the Coke secretaire. In Mrs. Whitbread's room there is a shallow commode with a large rosette on the front centred by a marble relief of a woman's head and a pair of chiffoniers en suite, both designed by Holland and probably executed by Marsh. A rosewood tambour-topped desk, acquired for Southill in 1811, has an identical gallery on its marble top to our secretaire (F.J.B. Watson, 'The Furniture and Decoration', Southill, A Regency House, London, 1951, p.24,27, figs.34,35,36 and 39).