30 Jan 2013
13:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge
Gentleman's Library Sale - Furniture
Back to auction 20448
Gentleman's Library Sale - Furniture
Back to auction 20448
A Regency mahogany 'writing table'
attributed to Gillows
the opposing twin hinged and twin ratcheted gilt-tooled leather inset top with a reeded edge and a removable book rest, above a fitted secretaire drawer modelled as two drawers with an opposing dummy drawer, the top half opening to reveal a triple-section gilt-tooled leather inset open drawer, incorporating a central rising hinged writing slide with compartments for pen and ink to the back, and two later cut-glass ink jars, over six hinged lidded and alphabetically ordered compartments flanking a central well, on four ring turned and reeded tapering legs terminating in brass cappings and castors, unextended: 126cm wide x 67.5cm deep x 91.5cm high, (49.5" wide x 26.5" deep x 36" high)
the opposing twin hinged and twin ratcheted gilt-tooled leather inset top with a reeded edge and a removable book rest, above a fitted secretaire drawer modelled as two drawers with an opposing dummy drawer, the top half opening to reveal a triple-section gilt-tooled leather inset open drawer, incorporating a central rising hinged writing slide with compartments for pen and ink to the back, and two later cut-glass ink jars, over six hinged lidded and alphabetically ordered compartments flanking a central well, on four ring turned and reeded tapering legs terminating in brass cappings and castors, unextended: 126cm wide x 67.5cm deep x 91.5cm high, (49.5" wide x 26.5" deep x 36" high)
Sold for
£4,375
inc. premium
Footnotes
- A group of four designs, here illustrated, which appear in the Gillow Estimate Sketch Books dated 1801, p. 1675, conform exactly to the present lot. The second drawing shows, from a side-on view, the double hinged ratchetted top and the half secretaire drawer, which are both prominent features of the above writing table as Gillows defined it. While three of these designs display the elegant reeded tapering legs and castors evident on the present lot. The written explanations alongside these drawings describe the interior layout of the secretaire drawer with its six distinctive lidded and alphabetically lettered compartments ("Gillow Estimate Sketch Books", Westminster Archives Centre).
The design of the secretaire drawer is identical to that on a number of stamped Gillow pedestal desks. The attribution is supported by the type of alphabet lettering, the twin secret drawers and the two-tier interior, which are recorded on several documented pieces, including the Director design library table supplied by Gillow in 1778 to Denton Hall (illustrated Gilbert (C.): "The Life and Works of Thomas Chippendale", London, 1978, Vol. II, p. 246, pl. 449).
The overall appearance of the present lot is very similar to an architect's table supplied to the Scotsman, Sir John Shaw Stewart, in 1801 by Gillow ("Regional Furniture, the Journal of the Regional Furniture Society", 1998, Vol. XII, p. 137, pl. 18). Also, the design of the double layered interior appears recognisably complete in a design by Thomas Shearer in the "Cabinet-Makers' London Book of Prices", London, 1788, pl. 12.
Category: Furniture / Period Design
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Period Design