A REGENCY EBONY-INLAID MAHOGANY LIBRARY DESK
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A REGENCY EBONY-INLAID MAHOGANY LIBRARY DESK

ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE BULLOCK

Details
A REGENCY EBONY-INLAID MAHOGANY LIBRARY DESK
Attributed to George Bullock
The rounded rectangular black-leather lined top above a kneehole flanked by a pair of panelled doors, enclosing a shelf, the reverse with triple-panelled fall-flap enclosing a shelf, flanked on each side by a panelled door enclosing a shelf, on a plinth base
29¾ in. (75.5 cm.) high; 82½ in. (209.5 cm.) wide; 36¾ in. (93.5 cm.) deep
Provenance
Supplied to Robert Ferguson, M.P. (d. 1840) for Raith House, Kirkcaldy, Fife, and by descent.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

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'.

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