Lot Essay
The unusual feature of two frieze drawers in this kneehole desk dressing-table, one of which is fitted with a slide and compartments for pens and pounce-pots, suggests that it was a special order.
The kneehole-desk or dressing-table was probably a specific form known as a 'bureau', intended either for writing or for use as a dressing-table. At Cannons, the 1725 inventory lists 'A Dressing Buroe with Drawers', whilst a very grand example described as 'a very fine large Walnuttree Burrow Table and Drawers', was supplied at the enormous cost of £70 for the Princesses' Library at Hampton Court Palace in 1716 (A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2001, pp. 111 & 121).
The kneehole-desk or dressing-table was probably a specific form known as a 'bureau', intended either for writing or for use as a dressing-table. At Cannons, the 1725 inventory lists 'A Dressing Buroe with Drawers', whilst a very grand example described as 'a very fine large Walnuttree Burrow Table and Drawers', was supplied at the enormous cost of £70 for the Princesses' Library at Hampton Court Palace in 1716 (A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2001, pp. 111 & 121).