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拍品專文
This bureau cabinet with its distinctive arched cornice is of a form which was fashionable from around 1713, the earliest dated example illustrated in Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, 2009, p.60, pl.2:15. Bowett illustrates another example in walnut (op.cit. p.55, pl.2.1) but notes that the form was popular for japanned pieces. The present lot thus represents a relatively early use of mahogany, which was not imported in large quantities until after the Naval Stores Act of 1721. Initially much less expensive in the trade than walnut, the timber was generally cut into regular squared logs for economy in shipping and was frequently used in the solid, the predominant character being dark, heavy and straight grained.