Property from a Private English Collection
A small Queen Anne ebonised and yew bureau cabinet, early 18th century
Lot Closed
November 8, 01:11 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Property from a Private English Collection
A small Queen Anne ebonised and yew bureau cabinet, early 18th century
the panels and internal drawers strung with boxwood throughout, the upper cabinet with mirror-inset panel door opening onto an interior of one shelf and an arrangement of drawers around a central cupboard, the fall-front bureau section opening onto an interior of drawers and pigeonholes above a writing slope lined with later dark pink velvet with a border of metal thread, above a frieze drawer flanked by lopers and with candle slides to the sides, the lower section with a folding dressing slide above three drawers, the lowest of which lined with blue paper to the base, above later ball feet, the metalwork possibly original, the locks replaced
167cm. high, 56.5cm. wide, 37.5cm. deep;
5ft. 6in., 1ft. 10 1/4 in., 1ft. 2 3/4 in.
Woolley & Wallis, January 1998, lot 380;
Christie's London, 9th June 2011, lot 308.
R. W. Symonds, 'Furniture of Yew Wood', in Old Furniture, VII, May-Aug 1929, p.152, fig. 2
The diminutive size of this bureau cabinet, standing fully at around 5ft. 6in. (167cm), indicates that it was intended for children’s use. This is comparatively rare, but Adam Bowett mentions in Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740 that there is a 1716 invoice for a “Walnuttree Desk & Bookcase […] for the young Princess’ Dressing Rooms” at St James’ Palace, in which year the princesses Anne and Amelia would only have been aged five and seven.1 Similar examples of smaller-scale bureau cabinets from this period in public collections include a green japanned example at Clandon House, Surrey (NT 1440470) and a red-japanned one at the V&A (W.8:1 to 9-1972). An example with wood veneers was with Apter-Fredericks,2 while another japanned example was offered at Sotheby’s London, 23rd November 2005, lot 38a.
1 Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, Woodbridge, 2009, p.72.
2 Ibid., p.73. pl. 2:40.
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