Lot Essay
The firm of Seddon at Aldersgate Street, London was the largest furniture-making firm at the end of the eighteenth century, although few pieces are labelled or documented. The firm was established by George Seddon (d.1804) in about 1750. He was joined by his sons in 1785 and his son-in-law Thomas Shackleton in 1790-95. George Seddon II joined into partnership with Nicholas Morel in 1827 working largely for the Royal family (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, eds., Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986, pp. 793-798).
The patent for the machanism operating this desk ('Entire New Weights, Bolts and Springs' to operate 'all kinds of Writing and Reading Desks, Tables' etc.) was originally granted to Day Gunby in 1798 and Gunby's patent specification drawings (no.2248) include a comparable kneehole desk. George Seddon took up the rights to this patent. The number 46 on the plaque indicates the manufacturing sequence, not the model (G.B. Hughes, 'Day Gunby's Patent Furniture', Country Life, 21 February 1957, pp.330-331). A nearly identical desk by Seddon, 'patent no.13', was sold in these Rooms, 17 October 1981, lot 159. A harlequin pembroke table by Seddon with the same plaque is illustrated in A. Heal, London Furniture-Makers, 1953, p.260, fig.47.
The patent for the machanism operating this desk ('Entire New Weights, Bolts and Springs' to operate 'all kinds of Writing and Reading Desks, Tables' etc.) was originally granted to Day Gunby in 1798 and Gunby's patent specification drawings (no.2248) include a comparable kneehole desk. George Seddon took up the rights to this patent. The number 46 on the plaque indicates the manufacturing sequence, not the model (G.B. Hughes, 'Day Gunby's Patent Furniture', Country Life, 21 February 1957, pp.330-331). A nearly identical desk by Seddon, 'patent no.13', was sold in these Rooms, 17 October 1981, lot 159. A harlequin pembroke table by Seddon with the same plaque is illustrated in A. Heal, London Furniture-Makers, 1953, p.260, fig.47.