CIRCA 1780

Details

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY AND PLUM-PUDDING MAHOGANY BREAKFRONT SIDEBOARD
CIRCA 1780
With a bowed top, the frieze with a drawer above a waved fluted apron centered by a patera, flanked by cellarette drawers and divided by pendant bellflowers, with a pot cupboard to the right side, on square tapering legs with moulded feet, the locks stamped 'R.BARRON, BARBICAN, LONDON,' numbers '9031','9033', and '9029', plugged holes at back for gallery, the underside of the central drawer inscribed in pen '3034'
37½ in. (95 cm.) high; 70½ in. (179 cm.) wide; 30½ in. (78 cm.) deep

Provenance

Acquired from Partridge, 29 December 1977.

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

An almost identical sideboard, presumably the pair and undoubtedly executed in the same workshop although with cut-down feet, was sold from the collection of Frederick Behrens, Esq. and H.J. Joel, Esq. at Christie's on 17 April 1980, lot 84. It is illustrated in R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, rev. edn., London, 1954, vol. III, p. 34, fig. 27.

Robert Barron, patent locksmith, is listed in Kent's Directory for the Year 1794, Cities of London and Westminster, & Borough of Southwark at 66, Barbican. In 1778 Barron patented a double-action lock which represented a significant improvement on the then standard locks (J. A. Berry, 'English Furniture Locks', Regional Furniture, Vol XV, Leeds, 2001, pp. 64 - 71).

More from Simon Sainsbury The Creation of an English Arcadia

View All