.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The design of this desk with its alphabetized drawers relates to patterns published by Gillows, such as the 'bureau writing-table' with double-ratcheted top executed for the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1789 and a writing-table of 1794 (see L. Boynton, ed., Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Hertfordshire, 1995, pl.24 and 41). A pattern for a very similar desk with a rising ratchet-support features in the firm's 1798 Estimate Sketch Book (p.1481) preserved in the Westminster City Library. The design of the secretaire drawer appears on a number of stamped Gillows pedestal desks and several documented pieces feature this alphabetized lettering including the Director-design library table supplied by the firm in 1778 to Denton Hall (see C. Gilbert, The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol.II, p.246, pl.449).
A desk of this model was sold, the Property of a Gentleman, Christie's London, 14 November 1996, lot 17 (£11,500); the catalogue reproduces the Gillow 1798 design. A similar pedestal desk was supplied by the firm to Sir Walter Scott for his house on Castle Street in Edinburgh. It appears in a drawing dated 1832 of Scott's study at Abbotsford where it remains (see C. Wainwright, The Romantic Interior, 1989, p.195, pl.162).
A desk of this model was sold, the Property of a Gentleman, Christie's London, 14 November 1996, lot 17 (£11,500); the catalogue reproduces the Gillow 1798 design. A similar pedestal desk was supplied by the firm to Sir Walter Scott for his house on Castle Street in Edinburgh. It appears in a drawing dated 1832 of Scott's study at Abbotsford where it remains (see C. Wainwright, The Romantic Interior, 1989, p.195, pl.162).