Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

AN UNUSUAL GEORGE II MAHOGANY BREAKFRONT SECRETAIRE BOOKCASE

POSSIBLY ARCHITECT DESIGNED, C.1750

with a dentil cornice above a pair of Gothic astragal glazed doors enclosing adjustable shelving, above a secretaire drawer with a fitted interior, flanked by a further pair of doors enclosing adjustable shelving, the right-hand side fitted with a slender folio cupboard, the base with a band of blind fretwork above three crossbanded long drawers flanked by two runs of three drawers, on shaped bracket feet

228.5cm high, 177cm wide, 55cm deep

Provenance

The Roderick and Valentine Butler Collection.

Catalogue Note

This bookcase has a number of unusual features that suggest that it may have been designed by an architect rather than a furniture designer. These include the laminated glazing bars that are applied to the glass rather than having the glass set into rebates, the single central cupboard stile rather than it being a pair of stiles, the overly engineered door bolts, the fall front not having any supporting brackets, the un-graduated central run of drawers, the inclusion of a folio cupboard and the moulding across the upper section that limit how wide the doors can open. A final feature of note are the finials applied to the door frames above the central ogee glazing bars which are comparable to those applied to a library bookcase illustrated in Thomas Chippendale's 'The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director', 3rd Edition, 1762, plate XCVIII.