MID-18TH CENTURY

Details

A CHINESE-EXPORT BLACK AND GILT-LACQUER KNEEHOLE DESK
MID-18TH CENTURY
Decorated overall with foliate borders and Chinese landscapes, the rectangular top with recessed centre above a long frieze drawer and a kneehole with three short drawers, flanked on each side by three further short drawers, on shaped bracket feet, the frieze drawer with two later removable mahogany trays, minor restorations to the lacquer, the handles replaced
30¼ in. (77 cm.) high; 44 in. (112 cm.) wide; 28¼ in. (72 cm.) deep

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium, which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Sale room notice

This lot should be marked with a triangular symbol in the catalogue as it is Christie's wholly owned stock.

Lot Essay

A very similar English red-japanned kneehole desk, formerly in the collection of M. Henri Bernstein, is illustrated in F. Lenygon, Furniture in England from 1660-1760, London, n.d., p. 281, fig. 420 while a pair of black and gold-lacquer kneehole desks is illustrated in Apollo, June 1965, trade advertisement for A. Cook. Another related writing or dressing-table was sold from the Hochschild Collection, Sotheby's London, 1 December 1978, lot 32.
There is a similar dressing-table in the King's Bedroom at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton (D. Rogers, 'Recreation of Brighton's Royal Pavilion', Connoisseur, August 1968, p. 224, fig. 14).
A related George II lacquer dressing-table was ordered in the mid-18th Century through the East India Company by Francis Child (d. 1761), and was listed in the Childs' bedroom at Osterley Park, Middlesex in the 1782 Inventory as 'a handsome Japanned chest-of-drawers' (M. Tomlin, 'The 1782 Inventory of Osterley Park', Furniture History, 1986, p. 116.

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