Lot Details
Lot 424
George III Inlaid Mahogany Kneehole Desk
Attributed to Thomas Chippendale, circa 1765
The later leather-lined rectangular top above three cockbeaded frieze drawers with gilt-brass handles over a recessed cupboard door with three sham drawers and opening to twelve small drawers inlaid with letters A-Z and fitted with brass bail handles above a long drawer inlaid LETTERS, flanked by three graduated drawers and raised on bracket feet fitted with triple-action casters; with red wash to the underside, laminated blocks, brass triple wheel action friction casters. Height 29 1/2 inches (74.9 cm), width 48 1/2 inches (123.2 cm), depth 23 inches (58.4 cm).
Provenance:
Sold, Sotheby's, New York, January 22, 1999, lot 99.
The overall design, proportions and lustrous, exceedingly fine mahogany of this desk suggest a London maker of the highest caliber, such as Thomas Chippendale (1718-1799). That, together with with constuctional features found on documented pieces from his workshop, make an attribution to Chippendale possible.
The design of the present desk is derived from that of 'Buroe Tables', dated 1753 and found in Chippendale's The Gentlemen and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754, pl. XLVI. Made in the following decade in a more sophisticated fashion, the frieze is fitted with three cockbeaded drawers above a recess with a cupboard door faced to simulate three drawers opening to small drawers inlaid with the letters A-Z above a long drawer inlaid LETTERS, this configuration of drawers possibly indicating a special commission. When the drawers are removed, it appears that the configuartion was changed during construction from four long drawers to tiers of short drawers.
The gilt brass handles are similar to those of the the Dumfries House bookcase with slightly different backplates; see C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, New York, 1978, vol. II, p. 146, fig. 264. The constructional features of the desk are all typical of Chippendale's workshop. These include laminated blocks, red wash to the underside and back, short grain kickers to the drawers, chamfered drawers and brass triple wheel action friction casters; see C. Gilbert, op. cit., p. 147, fig. 266.
C Property from a New York Private Collector
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