BY JOHN BELCHIER, CIRCA 1730

Details

A GEORGE II WALNUT AND BURR WALNUT KNEEHOLE DRESSING-TABLE
BY JOHN BELCHIER, CIRCA 1730
The rectangular quarter-veneered cross and feather-banded moulded top with re-entrant corners above a long drawer with feather-banding above six short drawers around a recess with a shallow drawer and a cross and feather-banded door enclosing a shelf, on bracket feet, labelled 'MADE BY JOHN BEL-CHIER AT THE SUN IN ST PAULS CHURCH YARD', feet largely original but with some restorations
30½ in. (77 cm.) high; 33 in. (84 cm.) wide; 19 in. (48 cm.) deep

Provenance

The Property of a Gentleman, sold Christie's, London, 8 July 1999, lot 96

Literature

C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700 - 1840, Leeds, 1996, p.72, fig.72. A.Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, Woodbridge, 2009, pp.122-123, pl.3.54.

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Lot Essay

John Belchier (d. 1753), possibly of Huguenot origin, worked from 'The Sun', his St. Paul's Church Yard premises for 36 years. One of his best known commissions was the furniture he supplied to Erddig, Denbighshire between 1722 and 1726. His label appears on several bureaux, including a similar kneehole desk of circa 1735, made from padouk and labelled in the central drawer (see C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, pp. 17 and 87, figs. 71-72). The furniture historian Adam Bowett suggests that the lip-moulded drawers and carcase found on this 'bureau-table' indicate a construction typical of the 1730s (A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2001, p. 123, plate 3:54).

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