BY GILLOWS, THE LOCKS STAMPED BRAMAH, CIRCA 1840

Details

AN EARLY VICTORIAN BURR-WALNUT, TULIPWOOD AND PARCEL-EBONIZED PEDESTAL DESK
BY GILLOWS, THE LOCKS STAMPED BRAMAH, CIRCA 1840
Of kidney shape, with later inset gilt-tooled brown leather writing-surface above a frieze drawer stamped 'GILLOW', flanked to either side by five small graduated drawers, with hinged locking stiles, the reverse with two adjustable open bookshelves, secured by locking pilasters, on a molded plinth base, the central and side lock stamped with a crown and inscribed 'J BRAMAH / 124 PICCADILLY'
28 ¾ in. (73 cm.) high, 51 ¼ in. (130.1 cm.) wide, 25 ½ in. (64.8 cm.) deep

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Lot Essay

This model of desk is based on a design dated 1792 published by Thomas Sheraton in his The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book, London, 1793, pl. 58. The form, with open bookshelves to the reverse, was made by Gillows of London and Lancaster from 1840 to circa 1860 and became one of the firm’s best known models. It corresponds to two sketches for 'An Oak pedestal and Kidney table' in one of Gillows' Estimate Sketch Books, dated 1840. A stamped Gillow example with the same Bramah lock is illustrated in S. E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Woodbridge, 2008, vol. I, p. 339, fig. 393.

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