An early George II mahogany kneehole desk, with black leather- lined top, the eared chamfered corners with scrolling brackets, carved with pendant flowers and cartouches, the sliding kneehole fitted with a panelled cupboard door flanked by fluted columns and moulded arch with foliate carved spandrels and surrounded by nine variously-sized drawers, on a moulded indented base, 56½in. (143.5cm) wide, 26½in. (67cm) deep, 31in. (78.5cm) high

細節

An early George II mahogany kneehole desk, with black leather- lined top, the eared chamfered corners with scrolling brackets, carved with pendant flowers and cartouches, the sliding kneehole fitted with a panelled cupboard door flanked by fluted columns and moulded arch with foliate carved spandrels and surrounded by nine variously-sized drawers, on a moulded indented base, 56½in. (143.5cm) wide, 26½in. (67cm) deep, 31in. (78.5cm) high

拍品專文

The serpentine triumphal arch facade is designed in the George II 'picturesque' manner popularised by Thomas Chippendale's Gentleman's and Cabinet-Maker's Director 1754.
Its recessed commode compartment with fluted pilasters and foliated spandrels and its drawer-filled pedestals with canted corner-pilasters festooned from acanthus-wrapped trusses with fruit and flower garlands, emblematic of Peace and Plenty feature on the 'rich mahogany commodes of fine woods and wrought ornaments' commissioned in 1752 from Messrs. Kilpin, Chesson and Saunders for the state apartment of the Mansion House, London, (see S. Jeffrey The Mansion House, London, 1993, fig. 138). Its acanthus-scrolled escutcheons also feature on the celebrated dressing tables supplied in the 1750's for Alderman Beckford's Fonthill Splendense, Wiltshire and attributed to John Channon.
This kneehole desk is shown in the photograph of Mrs. Stirling's sitting room at Keir reproduced on page of this catalogue