The invention of the Davenport in the late 18th Century is credited to Gillows of London and Lancaster, and is described in J. Loudon's, Encyclopaedia, 1833, as a 'drawing-room writing-cabinet used by ladies'. This davenport with its brass inlay of Grecian-tablets etc. reflects the early 19th Century fashion for French 'Buhl' popularised by craftsmen such as Le Gaigneur. An oak-veneered davenport with the same patterned ribbon-guilloche gallery was sold anonymously Sotheby's, London, 17 November 1989, lot 143, while a writing-table made by Richard Goodman of Sun Street features similar brass-inlaid foliate panels (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p. 226, fig. 403).