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Lot Essay
The Ferguson desk typifies the elegant Grecian style of the early 19th Century, and relies for effect on its bold architectural forms and its fine figured mahogany. It is embellished with 'Grecian' black inlay in a manner that George Smith recommended in his Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808. Its black leather top is supported on Grecian stepped-plinth pedestals, whose 'commode' doors display recessed tablets of flame-patterned mahogany, bordered by ebony-inlaid ribbons with studded angles. The same decoration features in the recessed frieze as well as at the back of the desk, where a large folio-cabinet is concealed behind a 'fall'.
The desk is listed in 'The Hall' in the 1895 Inventory of the Mansion House of Raith, Kirkcaldy (p. 31) as:
'Mahogany and inlaid pedestal writing table'.
It was also listed in the 'Library' in Dowell's 1930 Inventory of Raith House as: 'Mahogany inlaid pedestal writing table enclosed by four panell doors, top covered in leather'.
