A GEORGE III MAHOGANY SECRETAIRE-CABINET

Details

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY SECRETAIRE-CABINET
The foliate swan's neck cresting above a breakfronted dentilled cornice over a later mirror-inset door enclosing shelves and flanked by ribbon-tied pendant foliate sprays, the base with cushioned frieze drawer carved with strapwork and flanked by two short drawers beneath a dressing slide over three long drawers flanked by foliate-carved cabinet doors on ogee bracket feet, the central frieze drawer and back of base bearing a paper label printed 'P.J. WALSH & SONS/Cabinet Maker's, Upholsterers, Auctioneers, Valuations & UNDERTAKERS, Warehouse and Showrooms, 20 Batchelor's Walk, DUBLIN, Valuations & Funerals, particularly attended to & conducted with respectibility & economy', alterations, upper section probably 19th Century
93in. (236cm.) high, 48in. (122cm.) wide, 27in. (68.5cm.) deep

Provenance

Sotheby's New York, 7 April 1990, lot 111.

Lot Essay

This cabinet is based on a pattern for a 'Desk and Bookcase' published in Thomas Chippendale's Director of 1762, plate CVIII.

P.Jas Walsh & Co., upholsterers and auctioneers, were recorded working at 19 and 20 Bachelors' Walk from 1862-1869. The firm's name was changed to P.J.Walsh & Sons in 1870 (until 1922) when the firm advertised that they 'Keep Large Stocks of First-Class Modern & Genuine Antique Furniture/Antique Furniture Restored or Purchased...' (see D.Fitz-Gerald, 'Dublin Directories and Trade Labels', Furniture History, 1985, p.272). It is likely that this cabinet was retailed or restored by this firm after the 1870 name change. P.J.Walsh & Son was one of the principal suppliers to the 1st Earl Iveagh in the 1890's. A labelled pedestal desk is at the Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood and many lots of labelled antique and late nineteenth century furniture sold from Lord Iveagh's sale at Elveden Hall, Thetford, Norfolk, Christie's House Sale, 21-24 May 1984.