A DRESDEN ORMOLU-MOUNTED WALNUT DESK

MID-18TH CENTURY

Details

A DRESDEN ORMOLU-MOUNTED WALNUT DESK
Mid-18th Century
Cross-banded overall, the waved and moulded top above a central concave-fronted frieze-drawer and a knee-hole flanked by two deep drawers to each side, all drawers with elaborate handles with the coats-of-arms and monogram of August Rex, on later cabriole legs terminating in pierced foliate and C-scroll mounts, the reverse with paper label inscribed 'FFJ 3 restant Osehuth' and embossed to the reverse of the label with dealer's address, restorations including reveneered sides to the knee-hole
32 in. (81 cm.) high; 48 in. (124 cm.) wide; 23 in. (60 cm.) deep

Provenance

Almost certainly commissioned by the court of Augustus Rex (d. 1733).

Lot Essay

The serpentined and hollow-centred form of this desk, combined with richly figured veneer framed with broad ribbon-banding, is very similar to that of a desk at Schloss Moritzburg dating from the 1740s (G. Haase, Dresdener Mbel des 18. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, 1983, p. 304, fig. 119). The key-escutcheon displaying the Augustus Rex (d. 1733) conjoined 'AR' cypher and his palm-framed shields, ensigned with the Imperial crown, features on a commode dating from the 1740s in the Residenzschloss, Dresden (Haase, op cit, fig. 126, cat. 38). This same pattern, combined with the flowered and acanthus-scrolled handle, is illustrated in Haase, op. cit, fig 113. The presence of these handles suggest that this desk was commissioned by the court of Augustus the Strong.

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