OF LOUIS XV STYLE, SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

This elegantly serpentined bureau plat is in the Louis XV style, which enjoyed a revival in the 1830s and 1840s. This fashion was promoted by Edward Holmes Baldock (d.1845), the celebrated dealer and retailer or marchand mercier, of Hanway Street, who traded in 'Foreign China [&] Furniture' from 1805. A bureau plat, branded 'E.H.B.' of similar style to the present lot, but elaborately inlaid with marquetry and mother-of-pearl, was sold anonymously, Christie's London, 9 July 1998, lot 136. There were other retailing firms, such as Edwards & Roberts, who had premises in Wardour Street, in 1854, and also traded in antiques, using their stamp on new and old pieces that passed through their workshops. A similar bureau-plat to the present lot, stamped 'Edwards & Roberts' was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 2 April 1993, lot 45.