A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ARCHITECT'S DESK

LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY ARCHITECT'S DESK
Late 18th Century
The rectangular double-ratcheted top with book support over a pull-out secretaire drawer enclosing a sliding leather-lined ratcheted writing surface and further enclosing hinged compartments inlaid with alphabetized cartouches, the base with kneehole door enclosing a compartments, slides, and a drawer, flanked to each side by three short drawers, the reverse with sham drawers, on a pedestal base, locks stamped 'I BRAMAH'
37in. (95.3cm.) high, 49in. (125.7cm.) wide, 25in. (64cm.) deep

Lot Essay

A virtually identical desk was supplied by the firm of Gillow to Sir Walter Scott in 1810 and appears in an 1832 drawing of the study at Abbotsford, Edinburgh (C.Wainwright, The Romantic Interior, London, 1989, fig.162). Other tables of this form include examples sold Christie's London, 7 October 1993, lot 113 and Sotheby's London, 19 November 1993, lot 97.