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Lot Essay
This bureau dressing-table is embellished with Venus-shells and festooned with Roman acanthus husks in the George I 'antique' manner, while its hollow-scrolled and lambrequined front corresponds to that on a dressing-mirror bearing the St.Paul's Churchyard label adopted by John Brown in the 1720's (see C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, fig.157). This form of Roman shell badge also appears on an early 18th century walnut card table bearing the trade label of Benjamin Crook (op.cit, fig.265).
The use of exotic hardwood in the construction of this piece suggests that the maker had access to foreign timbers. A number of closely related bureaux, some fitted with dressing-mirrors and many with similarly fitted interiors, were certainly executed in the same workshop. This identifiable group includes the following examples: a virtually identical bureau was sold in these Rooms, 12 October 1996, lot 194 (illustrated in G.Beard and J.Goodison, eds., English Furniture 1500-1840, Oxford, 1987, p.51). Another of the same form and fittings and with mahogany drawer linings is illustrated in R.W.Symonds, English Furniture from Charles II to George II, London, 1929, p.139, fig.85 and R.W.Symonds, 'Dressing Bureaux of the time of George I and George II', Antique Collector, May-June 1950, pp.106,111. Another example of this same model was sold Sotheby's London, 6 May 1988, lot 41; another sold, the property of a Lady, Christie's London, 17 April 1997, lot 81 which features similar veneers, secondary timbers and interior arrangement of fittings. Other examples are illustrated in H.Cescinsky, English Furniture from Gothic to Sheraton, 1937, p.184 and H.Cescinsky, The Old-World House, vol.I, London, 1935, p.89.
The bureau was part of the exceptional collection formed under the guidance of R.W.Symonds by the celebrated connoisseur Fred Skull in the early years of this century. In 1929, Skull purchased and restored a Jacobean country house in High Wycombe which housed the collection. The house and collection are discussed in a two-part article in Country Life, 30 September 1933, pp.338-341 and 7 October 1933, pp.362-366. The collection was sold by Christie's on 23 April 1952 following Fred Skull's death. This bureau was sold as lot 291 in that sale.
The use of exotic hardwood in the construction of this piece suggests that the maker had access to foreign timbers. A number of closely related bureaux, some fitted with dressing-mirrors and many with similarly fitted interiors, were certainly executed in the same workshop. This identifiable group includes the following examples: a virtually identical bureau was sold in these Rooms, 12 October 1996, lot 194 (illustrated in G.Beard and J.Goodison, eds., English Furniture 1500-1840, Oxford, 1987, p.51). Another of the same form and fittings and with mahogany drawer linings is illustrated in R.W.Symonds, English Furniture from Charles II to George II, London, 1929, p.139, fig.85 and R.W.Symonds, 'Dressing Bureaux of the time of George I and George II', Antique Collector, May-June 1950, pp.106,111. Another example of this same model was sold Sotheby's London, 6 May 1988, lot 41; another sold, the property of a Lady, Christie's London, 17 April 1997, lot 81 which features similar veneers, secondary timbers and interior arrangement of fittings. Other examples are illustrated in H.Cescinsky, English Furniture from Gothic to Sheraton, 1937, p.184 and H.Cescinsky, The Old-World House, vol.I, London, 1935, p.89.
The bureau was part of the exceptional collection formed under the guidance of R.W.Symonds by the celebrated connoisseur Fred Skull in the early years of this century. In 1929, Skull purchased and restored a Jacobean country house in High Wycombe which housed the collection. The house and collection are discussed in a two-part article in Country Life, 30 September 1933, pp.338-341 and 7 October 1933, pp.362-366. The collection was sold by Christie's on 23 April 1952 following Fred Skull's death. This bureau was sold as lot 291 in that sale.