EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A REGENCY MAHOGANY CARLTON HOUSE DESK
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
The rounded rectangular top with a D-shape superstructure with a pierced brass gallery above a central door flanked by three mahogany- and cedar-lined drawers and two further concave doors, the sloping sides with two further cedar-lined drawers, the central green gilt-tooled leather-lined writing-surface incorporating a ratcheted slope, above three frieze drawers, on tapering ring-turned reeded legs with brass caps, the central drawer with blue-bordered paper label inscribed in ink '36', the handles apparently original
38½ in. (98 cm.) high; 48 in. (122 cm.) wide; 26½ in. (67 cm.) deep

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The 'Carlton House' desk is named after an example of this form reputedly commissioned by the Prince of Wales for his use at his London residence, Carlton House (sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 25 April 1986, lot 73). The first published design of 'a Gentleman's writing-table' of this form is dated 1792 and appears in George Hepplewhite's The Cabinet-Maker's London Book of Prices, 2nd edn., 1793, pl.21. Thomas Sheraton published a similar design that same year in his The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, pl.60.
This example is similar in its elegant size and sloped sides to one sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 22 April 1999, lot 79 for $63,000.
The blue bordered paper label on this desk is similar, though not identical to those used as labels in the Leverhulme collection.

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