Lot Essay
This desk with its rising ratcheted top and elliptical handles relates to a 'bureau writing-table, 1789', illustrated in L. Boynton (ed.), Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, fig. 24, commissioned by The Earl of Shrewsbury, which also had lettered compartments.
The present desk is likely to have been commissioned by Sir Thomas Wentworth for the library at Bretton Park, Yorkshire, at the end of the 18th Century. (A. Oswald, 'Bretton Park II, The Seat of Viscount Allendale', Country Life, May 1938, pp. 554-8).
The present desk is likely to have been commissioned by Sir Thomas Wentworth for the library at Bretton Park, Yorkshire, at the end of the 18th Century. (A. Oswald, 'Bretton Park II, The Seat of Viscount Allendale', Country Life, May 1938, pp. 554-8).