LATE 17TH EARLY 18TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY NORTH EUROPEAN

Details

A WILLIAM AND MARY BLACK, RED AND GILT-JAPANNED BUREAU-CABINET
LATE 17TH EARLY 18TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY NORTH EUROPEAN
Decorated overall with Chinese figures and birds in landscapes, the double-domed cornice above a pair of shaped arched panelled doors enclosing a refitted interior using earlier elements with part velvet-lined, part simulated tortoiseshell, interior with two shelves, mirrored and tiered platform and three small drawers, the reverse of the doors mirrored, above a hinged slope enclosing a fitted interior with eight small drawers, five secret drawers and six pigeon-holes, above a well, above six small drawers and an arched apron, on later bun feet, one drawer inscribed in pencil 'reghe' (?) another 'Claude', the door panels reversed, the handles replaced
84½ in. (215 cm.) high; 43¾ in. (111 cm.) wide; 25 in. (63.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Lt. Col. Sir George Lindsay Holford, K.C.V.O., C.I.E., C.B.E., (d. 1926) Equerry to George V, Dorchester House, London and Westonbirt, Gloucestershire and by descent until the early 21st century when purchased by the present owner.

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.

Lot Essay

The bureau, with double-domed cornice, is designed in the French or Louis Quatorze fashion popularised by the engraved works of the French architect Daniel Marot, while its golden Chinese garden vignettes reflect the 'India' fashion popularised by J. Stalker and G. Parker's A Treatise of Japanning and Varnishing, Oxford, 1688. The interior and its door panels (reversed with the mirrored panels formerly on the exterior) are decorated in trompe l'oeil tortoiseshell as taught in the Treatise.

A japanned tallboy with the same design of four recessed niches on the front and shaped apron, is illustrated in P. Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Walnut, London, 1905, p. 150, fig. 135. It was in the collection of the Viscountess Wolseley.

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