Posts Tagged ‘writing cabinet’

WALNUT PERIOD
HAVING seen in the last chapter how new methods
of construction enabled a far more refined kind of
furniture to be made, we may now turn to the actual pieces that were produced from the Restoration up to the end of Queen Anne’s reign in 1714. Perhaps the first thing that strikes one is the multiplicity of types compared with what men had known in the first half of the seventeenth century.
It seems that people had come to have a new outlook on life and were demanding an altogether more luxurious way of living. Perhaps a fair comparison is the way that the average man’s point of view has changed since 1913. Not that the results have been the same, but the Great War and all that it brought with it set men’s minds working along fresh channels. In 166o it was the Restoration instead of war that prompted the change, and in comparison the changes were even greater.
For one thing there was the reaction from a stern, rigorous form of government to one of licence and laxity. For another there was the strong foreign influence which came as the natural result of the accession of a king who had spent most of his life abroad, soon followed by the reign of a king who actually was a foreigner. The remarkable thing is that the resultant style was not more extravagant than it really was. As it turned out, the walnut period was notable rather for its restraint and dignity, especially in its later stages. The probable reason was that William of Orange did a good deal to check the depraved condition into which the court of Charles II had fallen.
Amongst the pieces that made their first appearance during the walnut period were china cabinets fitted with glass doors, bookcases (also often glazed), writing cabinets, chests of drawers, mirrors, tall clock cases, card tables, and various cabinets elaborately fitted up with small drawers and cup-boards. To these may be added chairs with fully upholstered seats and backs. These introductions in themselves reflect the altered conditions, and show that people were no longer content with things which had to answer several purposes. Consider how in earlier days the chest had served as a seat, table, and travelling chest ; or the dining table for every possible purpose for which a table could be needed. By the end of the seventeenth century people indulged in the luxury of collecting china, hence the cabinets for the purpose ; they spent their leisure in playing cards and so needed card tables books were more plentiful, making bookcases essential and they required not one chair and a few stools in a room, but a full set so that everyone could be comfortable.
CHESTS OF DRAWERS
We saw in Chapter III how the chest developed into the chest of drawers, and it is interesting to make a comparison between the Jacobean type in Fig. 53, p. 66, and the Charles II example in Fig. 70. In date there are not many years’ difference between them, but whereas the former is entirely in oak and is made in the old traditional way, the other is of veneered walnut with a flat stretcher and legs of a kind that are not only entirely new in form, but involve a fresh form of construction. From the constructional point of view it is certainly not an advancement upon traditional methods in which the stretcher rails would be strongly tenoned into the legs. As it is the shaped legs have a hole bored at each end, the top one holding a dowel which passes into the bottom of the chest, and the other taking the projecting dowel of the foot, the stretcher fitting between. It is worth taking particular note of this flat stretcher with the foot beneath because it became very popular in the late years of the seventeenth century.
A glance at the chest itself shows that in construction and form it bears out the changes dealt with more fully in the last chapter. The drawer fronts are flat, and around the edges is a herring-bone banding, a typical ” walnut ” feature. One special note of interest is that along the drawer rails and front edges of the ends is a flat half-round moulding with the grain running crosswise. Charles II and William and Mary work often had this feature. Later it declined, its place being taken by a cocked bead fixed around the edges of the drawer fronts. The latter was really a more practical idea because the bead helped to protect the edges of the veneer, preventing the latter from being chipped away.
Cross-grained Mouldings.—Mention of the cross-grained bead brings us to another feature which was used almost exclusively in walnut work, the cross-grained moulding. It will be appreciated that to make a solid cross-grained moulding would not be practical. It would have no strength, it would be liable to twist, and it would certainly shrink. The plan was therefore adopted of applying a thin strip of cross-grained wood to a solid groundwork, the grain of which ran lengthwise. The groundwork provided the strength and the thinness of the layer had sufficient
give ” to overcome the shrinkage difficulty.
If the moulding were extra big the work would be allowed to stand until full shrinkage had taken place, when the inevitable splits would be filled in. All but the smallest mouldings were made in this way, and even these in the best work were cross-grained. It is a point to look for in an old piece. Fig. 71 shows how a cornice moulding was built up, and the plate on p. 125 gives a number of sections, in some of which the facing layer of walnut is also shown.
A rather later chest, dating from about 1690, is given in Fig. 72, and it will be noticed that, although it embodies many similar features to the chest in Fig. 70, it is of altogether better proportions and approaches a period when walnut furniture was at its best. The drawer fronts are veneered and have the herring-bone banding around the edges, and there is the half-round moulding on the drawer rails and cabinet ends. The frieze of flat rounded section veneered with cross-grained walnut should be noted because a great deal of walnut furniture had this detail. It was copied from the cornice and frieze built in many houses of the period. Turned legs with the inverted cup shape are peculiar to William and Mary pieces, and, although other shapes were used, they are usually a good indication of the period. Note that the flat stretcher similar to that in Fig. 70 is still used.
One other point to note is that the veneering has the effect of hiding the construction almost entirely. Take the stand, for instance. There is no indication of where the rails are joined to the legs. This is in contrast with the older oak furniture in which all the joints were apparent, and in which the grain always ran in the direction which strength demanded. The appreciation of points such as this enables one to understand the root of the changes that were taking place.
Tallboys.—Two other chests are given in Fig. 73. That to the left is late seventeenth century, but the other is of Queen Anne’s reign and shows the final development of the walnut period. It is a close approach to that delightful looking, but rather impractical, article the tallboy chest. Presumably men felt that the drawer was so extremely useful (and it undoubtedly was) that the more they could fit into a piece the more useful it became. It was like many another good idea, spoilt by being taken to extremes. Any reader who has possessed one of these tallboys will appreciate the nuisance of having to mount up on a chair to reach the contents of the top drawers.
In this chest we also have a feature which we shall frequently run across in Queen Anne work, the apron piece. This is the shaped rail joining the legs beneath the lower drawers. It appears in the chest in Fig. 72, and in the left-hand example in Fig. 73. It was the natural result of the introduction of veneering, or, to be more accurate, it was a detail which was made possible only by veneering. If, for instance, the veneer were stripped off, the joints of the various rails would be exposed with the applied apron piece showing beneath. Such an arrangement would be unsightly, but when covered with veneer makes an attractive and characteristic feature. Sometimes the shaped edges were covered with a cocked bead. The chest in Fig. 72 has this detail.
One other outstanding feature of this chest, Fig. 73, is that in it we have the first introduction to the cabriole leg which enjoyed so vast a popularity in the eighteenth century. We shall deal with this more fully presently when we come to speak about chairs, but it is worth while noting its use in pieces of this kind.
Drawer Construction.—In all these chests, the drawer sides, backs, and bottoms were invariably of oak. Walnut was still a comparatively rare wood—it was probably not planted in this country until Elizabeth’s reign—and on that account was costly. Furthermore oak was the better calculated to withstand the wear inevitable on the sliding surfaces. Oak was also used for the groundwork of the drawer fronts, though there was a tendency to use pine for the purpose, because experience showed that oak did not grip the glue as well as pine. Also, the figure in the oak was liable to show through the veneer eventually because of the shrinkage of the softer parts of the timber. However, it is no criterion, for both were used for the purpose.
When a walnut moulding was required at the edges (except in the case of the cocked bead) a slip of cross-grained walnut was first let in all round and the veneer laid over this. This enabled the moulding to be worked in the walnut at the edges. It was unnecessary in a cocked bead, for this could be applied afterwards in a rebate worked for the purpose.

FIG. 70. WALNUT CHEST OF DRAWERS ON STAND.
About 1670.
The upright grain of the veneered drawer fronts, the herringbone banding,
the cross-grained bead on the rails, and the flat stretchers are typical
of the period.

FIG. 71. HOW CROSS-GRAINED WALNUT
MOULDINGS WERE BUILT UP.
Strips of cross-grained walnut are glued to a
groundwork of pine or oak.

FIG. 72. WILLIAM AND MARY CHEST OF DRAWERS ON
STAND.
The inverted cup turned legs and flat stretcher were extremely popular at the period. The rounded frieze continued into the Queen Anne period.

FRANCE: RESTAURATION
THE RESTAURATION STYLE, as its name
suggests, refers to the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy from the expulsion and final exile of Napoleon in 1815, until its fall in 1830.
Louis XVIII became King of France in 1815 and was followed by Charles X in 1824, who finally abdicated in 1830 in favour of the exiled Due d’Orleans, Louis Philippe. It was a period of considerable political unrest, culminating in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, which forced Louis Philippe to flee to England.
The market for furniture also changed, with growing interest from the middle classes and the increasing
industrialization of furniture-making due to improved tools and the use of steam. Fortuitously, this coincided with the need to furnish apartments, which, for the first time, the middle classes could rent.
CHANGING STYLES
Empire decoration remained the leading style of furniture and many of the cabinet-makers who had worked in the Empire style, such as JacobDesmalter, Felix Remond, and P.A. Bellanger, continued to produce furniture with a great deal of success.
However, Napoleonic motifs and
mounts gradually disappeared, and the
Empire style was slowly watered down as severity gave way to comfort. Strict linearity eventually relaxed into the occasional curve in a nostalgia for Rococo style. Overall, forms became heavier and more solid, replacing the Empire love of rectilinear elegance. As elsewhere in Europe, furniture became bulkier. Inlays became more common and mounts gradually became smaller, or disappeared altogether.
STYLE DIFFERENCES Restauration-style furniture can sometimes be difficult to distinguish from the
simpler, more domestic Empire pieces (see pp.200-01). The surfaces of Restauration pieces tend to be even simpler and less decorated than those found on French Empire furniture, which was typically designed to create an opulent effect.
SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT
This flame-veneered mahogany writing cabinet is raised on claw feet and has a moulded cornice above a pair of Gothic-carved, glazed doors, enclosing shelves, above drawers. A frieze drawer fitted for writing is set above cupboard doors flanked by scrolls. c.1820.
DRESSING TABLE
This is a mahogany dressing table with a swing-frame mirror set above a platform with two small drawers above another drawer. The dressing table stands on C-scroll supports and has a shaped platform base. c.1825.
FAUTEUILS AUX DAUPHINS
This set of six mahogany armchairs, made by Pierre-Antoine Bellanger, has straight top rails terminating in carved scrolls. The curved arms are carved with dolphin heads and each chair has a padded, upholstered seat with a plain seat rail and is supported on sabre legs. c.1815.
CHARLES X DRESSING TABLE
This dressing table is made of burr elm inlaid with amaranth depicting stylized foliage. The top section has an oval mirror with carved supports in the shape of swans. The table top is made of white marble. The lower section consists of a frieze drawer above two carved consoles. The piece terminates in a shaped platform base and flattened bun feet. 1825
BOIS CLAIRS
Restauration furniture was usually made of oak, but it was increasingly veneered in lighter woods, the so-called bois clairs. This change in tone began in 1806, when the British blockaded the importation of mahogany to France from its colonies. As a result, local woods became more popular, including walnut, sycamore, ash, elm, yew, plane, beech, and, perhaps most characteristically of all, decorative bird’s-eye maple.
Mahogany, being expensive, was reserved for the most lavish interiors, so its use was often an indicator of the high value of a piece of furniture.
Traditionally, the Duchesse de Berry the daughter-in-law of Charles X, is credited with the introduction of bois clairs, but this appears to be an unfounded myth. Mahogany, however, continued to be extensively employed both as a veneer – where the decorative effect of its figure was much exploited – and in the solid.
With the decline in use of mounts, various timbers, particularly ebony, and metals such as brass or pewter, were inlaid instead. However, their treatment was always restrained. Some furniture even included plaques of painted porcelain.
GOTHIC STYLE
Towards the end of the Restauration period, the Romantic-revival styles gradually became evident in French furniture design.
These were probably first hinted at in Pierre de La Mesangere’s Collection de meubles et objets de goat, published between 1802 and 1835 in the Journal des Dames et des Modes. Here, La Mesangere adapted the severe, architectural style of Perrier and Fontaine to create a simple, domestic style for the middle classes. He also began introducing the motifs that
would dominate the next epoch –Gothic motifs, otherwise known as the Troubadour style.
Unlike the Chinese style, which was completely forgotten in early 19th-century France but played an important role in Britain at the time, the Gothic style did create a small impact. For example, in 1804, the cabinetmaker, Mansion the Younger, suggested a Gothic-style piece for Napoleon.
However, it was not until the late 1820s and 30s, that the pointed arches so typical of the Gothic style started appearing on Empire-style furniture.
CIRCULAR CENTRE TABLE
This table is made from rosewood inlaid with fruitwood and marquetry. The circular top, and the four frieze drawers below, are raised on a columnar support, which has four splayed legs that terminate in paw feet on brass casters. c.1830.
CHARLES X OCCASIONAL TABLE
The top of this oval rosewood table is inlaid with a panel of Gothic tracery and is bordered with a boxwood rolled moulding. The frieze has a single writing-slide drawer. The table stands on six turned legs joined by a double-baluster stretcher. c.1830.
This mahogany meridienne has one end higher than the other, and an elegant, curved, padded back. The frame of the sofa has scrolling sides, a plain frieze, and stands on volute feet. 1820
This table has a black-and-grey-veined Saint Anne marble top set above a plain frieze. The massive columnar support is baluster shaped although it has been facetted. The three scrolled feet are similarly angular and are square in section.
MERIDIENNE
MARBLE-TOPPED TABLE
The mahogany frieze is unadorned Will) the mounts typical of the French Empire style.
The scrolled feet show a move away from the strict angular design of the previous epoch.

Trays, knife-boxes, cutlery-urns, wine coolers, cellarets, and buckets
TRAYS
Known as “voyders” in the Middle Ages, and conceived not only for clearing away but also for the presentation of delicacies and sweetmeats, the earliest utilitarian trays were probably made of pewter and wood. During the late 17th century lacquered trays imported by the East India companies and European japanned versions revolutionized tray designs. The fashion for tea in the early 18th century was directly reflected upon all of the component parts of the tea ceremony.
Modest trays in oak and elm also survive from the early 18th century, and from the 1750s mahogany trays first appeared in pattern-hooks. Thomas Chippendale (1718-79), in the first edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1754), included four designs for trays in the Chinese style with carved fret borders. However, this type is very rare, and Chippendale also supplied designs for plain rectangular trays. From the 1780s trays became increasingly decorative; they were made in mahogany, and other exotic timbers, were sometimes richly inlaid with shells, fan-parquetry, and foliate arabesques of stained fruitwood, or were painted. Late 18th- and early 19th-century trays were dominated by the fashion for japanning, particularly in papier-mache. A process long practised in Persia (now Iran), it was patented in 1772 by the firm of Henry Clay, in Birmingham, and later by Jennens &, Bettridge (active 1816-64) in London. Although papier-mache trays were often of scalloped form, rectangular trays with similar decoration were also fashionable, particularly those of tole peinte or polychrome-painted metal.
KNIFE-BOXES AND CUTLERY-URNS
Supplied in pairs as ornamental containers for silver and enamel-handled cutlery and designed to stand prominently on the serving table, knife-boxes came into fashion during the reign of George II ( 1727-60). Although the basic form, with a serpentine front, remained remarkably unchanged until the 1780s, George 11 knife-boxes were often ten covered with silk-velvet or shagreen, rather than veneered. From the 1760s knife-boxes in mahogany were made and are characterized by their bow-fronted form, hinged slope with drop-handles, and shaped bracket or claw-and-ball feet; they are unembellished apart from the cockbeaded or chequerbanded edges. The interiors, with slopes pierced with holes to display the cutlery in tiers, were also often silk lined but otherwise restrained. During the 1770s their decoration became increasingly lavish, with crossbanding and featherbanding, ebony-inlaid star parquetry to the slopes, and even stylized green-stained shell inlay – a motif particularly identified with North Country workshops – while the feet were discarded altogether in favour of Classical plinths. With the age of satinwood ( 1780-1800), elaborate Neo-classical embellishments became commonplace, and these were often complemented by richly engraved Sheffield plate Mounts. During the 1780s the vase-form knife-box, published by George Hepplewhite (d.1786) in The Cabinet-Maker and upholsterer’s Guide ( 1788-94), was designed to stand either set at each end of the sideboard or on pedestals. Made of satinwood or other light woods, the most refined examples were painted or inlaid with Neo-classical marquetry, arabesques, and simulated flutes, while the spring-loaded lids opened to reveal a chequerbanded interior with concentric tiers for the display of cutlery. During the early 19th century, knife-boxes and cutlery-urns became increasingly redundant both by sideboards with fitted drawers for storage, and by cutlery-urns being affixed to pedestals.
WINE COOLERS AND CELLARETS
As wine was an expensive luxury, receptacles for cooling and storing wine – whether of open-topped cistern (wine cooler) or lidded cellaret form, fitted with a lock, with divisions for bottles –were often lavishly decorated. Although metal and marble cellarets were first recorded in Britain in the late 17th century, it was not until the mid-18th century that lead-lined mahogany examples carved in the Rococo taste were made. Perhaps the most celebrated wine cooler is the Georgian form with a hexagonal or oval body, made of vertical sections of mahogany held together with two or three brass bands.
Neo-classical wine coolers and cellarets were usually conceived en suite with sideboards and pedestals, and were still predominantly of mahogany, although exotic timbers such as satinwood, padouk, and rosewood were also used. Although wine coolers with serpentine-channelled flutes to the body, which were directly inspired by Roman sarcophagi, and those with elaborate marquetry in a lighter style, continued to be made in the 1780s and 1790s, the most common examples were plainer mahogany- hooped with brass, with the lead-lined inside divided with partitions for the bottles. It is from this date that the majority of canted rectangular, circular, dome-lidded, and octagonal examples survive. Increasingly restrained in form and decoration, cellarets were rendered somewhat redundant by the inclusion of cellaret-drawers within designs for dining-room pedestals and sideboards.
During the early 19th century the lidded cellarets of Roman sarcophagus form, which were often of much larger size than its 18th-century predecessors, dominated Regency
pattern-books, and generally do not have stands. While firms such as Dillow (est. c.1730) of
Lancaster, Continued to supply cellarets in superbly figured
mahogany, from 1810 cabinet-makers under the
influence of George Bullock (c.1777-1818) increasingly promoted the use of indigenous English woods such as pollard oak and elm, frequently enriched with foliate marquetry arabesques in the “Buhl” style. However, from the 1830s this decoration became increasingly lavish, often combined with carving, and later Victorian cellarets arc often betrayed by their squatter, heavier proportions.
PLATE-BUCKETS AND PEAT-BUCKETS Plate-buckets are distinguished by their one-dished side that enabled servants to remove plates easily and straight-sided, or even polygonal form. Inspired by the need to ferry- plates the long distances from the kitchen to the dining-room, and usually made in pairs, plate-buckets were initially intended to be placed near the fire to keep the plates warm. The plate-bucket lent itself easily to embellishment and carving with pierced Gothick arcades, Chinese blind fretwork, and even marquetry inlay in the Neo-classical style; plain types were also made. The role of the plate-bucket was superseded in the late 18th century by the warmers enclosed within dining-room pedestals, and thus plate-buckets became increasingly plain, purely for use by servants for carrying china to the dining-room. The “peat-bucket” is an Irish term for a container traditionally thought to have been used for carrying peat to the fireplace. However, this is now thought to be unlikely as the bucket and peat together would have been very heavy indeed. It is now thought that they were used for carrying any number of items, including oysters. Although buckets are usually considered an English form, 18th- and 19th-century ones from The Netherlands arc among the most common found today, and can be distinguished from their English counterparts by their slightly smaller proportions, ribbed tapering bodies and, most characteristically, by the alternating use of light fruitwood and mahogany to give a streaked effect to the bodies.
• TRAYS 18th-century mahogany trays are rare; those that exist are often made from the leaves of old dining-tables; papier-mache trays may suffer from craquelure and
flaking; the best papier-mache examples have mother-of-pearl inlay.
• KNIFE-BOXES many have had the insides removed so that they could be converted to other uses – often as writing-cases in the 19th century; a premium is attached to those that retain their original fitments; examples with shell inlay sire usually from the North Country and Scotland; pairs of cutlery urns are very desirable.
• WINE COOLERS rare examples are those from the 18th century of carved mahogany or walnut.
• PLATE- AND PEAT-BUCKETS these are faked in huge numbers, often from old timber; look out for indications of consistent old damage, shrinkage, and seams to the brass bands, and beware of suspicious stains.

Screens
The earliest known screens were made in China, but they are recorded in Europe from at least the Middle Ages and regularly mentioned in 15th-century inventories. It wa
until the coming of electricity that their role in the household changed dramatically, from temperature regulator to decorative art form.
TYPES OF SCREEN
Screens developed from sheer need; until recently, draughts and the excesses of heat from open fires were a way of life in every region where the chills of winter were felt. A number of pieces of furniture were developed to combat these problems — the wing armchair enclosed the sitter and helped him or her to keep warm, and settles, Often curved and with solid backs,
draughts and contained the heat.
However, the most versatile piece of
furniture was the folding screen. It could
be large with hinged leaves, sometimes up
to 12 in number and occasionally even
more. It was practical because, however
large, it could easily be folded and stored
away. Alternatively, a small screen with
an adjustable panel could protect a localized area from the heat of the fire. The screen’s place was at the heart of the household, so its quality openly reflected the status of the owner. Screens were therefore made of a variety of materials, from wood to leather and the most
expensive and decorative cloths. They could also be made of wicker: one featured in the painting The Virgin Child before a Firescreen (c.1440; National Gallery, London) by a follower of the Flemish artist Robert Campin. It shows the Virgin sitting on a low settle, with her head framed halo-like against a circular wicker screen placed before a fireplace.
LACQUERED AND JAPANNED SCREENS
The voyages of discovery opened up the trade routes with the East, and the East India companies were set up to foster this business. By the mid-17th century trade in Oriental curiosities with China and japan established a taste for the East, which spread and had an enduring impact on furniture ornament and design.
China and Japan had long enjoyed a tradition of sophisticated workmanship. In the West there was a fascination with their blue-and-white porcelain, but furniture was also imported into Europe. The screen Was an important feature of the Oriental interior.
There the room settings were highly formalized, and in Japan, particularly, solid pieces of furniture were few. Screens were used as room dividers, gave privacy when required, and protected against draughts. They were also designed to be easily movable and, therefore, were ideal for export. The flow to Europe rapidly increased, as Oriental screens translated well to the European interior. More importantly, they gave broad displays of sought-after Oriental lacquer and ornamentation. Chinese lacquer screens were known as “Coromandel” or “bantamwork” screens in the West. However, the demand for lacquer soon outstripped supply; Oriental screens are mentioned in the inventories of every great house between 1700 and 1750. True Oriental lacquer could not be produced in Europe because its main ingredient was the sap of the Rhus vernicifera tree,
China and later introduced to Japan and to C South-East Asia, but not grown in Europe. Once the sap had been dried, it could be applied in coats, forming a crust so hard that it could be carved in relief. Colour, traditionally black, red, and aubergine, could also be added to the sap. In Europe an imitation based on shellac (made from insect secretions) was developed, known as japanning.
The drawing-room was not the only part of the house heated by open fires and so requiring screens. In the dining-room, people often made strenuous efforts to avoid being the ones who sat at table with their backs to the fire. To relieve scorching backs and protect the sitter, a screen of woven cane was introduced, which Could be hooked to the back of a chair and extend from the head to the seat. Such small, easily movable screens were also used as splashbacks on washstands to protect the walls.
The increasing introduction of enclosed fires,
and particularly of electricity and central heating, has made the screen almost redundant. Some fine-quality examples are works of art in their own right and survive as a result, but vast numbers have been put away and damaged through neglect. Some, for example scrapwork and leather screens, are rarely in complete and undamaged condition. A screen that is in its original state and not in need of repair is a real find.

• CONDITION leather and scrapwork screens are vulnerable – check that they arc complete, as repair is costly; if the panels on a screen display an incomplete picture, the value will be lowered; scrapwork screens in good condition are generally collectable
• ALTECATIONS some polescreens have been converted into tripod tables or music stands; check for strange proportions of the top to the stand; check that polescreen insets are contemporary to the frame
• COLLECTING fire- and polescreens are the least commercial – other types are more popular, and value is based on scarcity of material, rarity of maker, and quality; when wallpaper and paints replaced 17th-century wall panels of embossed Icatherwork, sections of the leather were often made into screens; on 19th screens, surrounds of giltwood are more desirable than gilt gesso, and less likely to be damaged

Pedestal and kneehole desks
Conceived as both dressing tables and bureaux, kneehole desks first appeared in France and The Netherlands in the second half of the 17th century. Since the 19th century, at least, they have been known as bureaux Mazarins after Louis XIV’s First Minister, Cardinal Jules Mazarin (1602-61). Early examples were commissioned by members of the French court as luxury items. Usually mounted with moulded brass borders and elaborate escutcheons or ormolu keyhole mounts, bureaux Mazarins of the late 17th century are most frequently made of brass-inlaid red tortoiseshell in the style associated with Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732).
WALNUT KNEEHOLE DESKS
At the end of the 17th century the bureau Mazarin kneehole desk was adapted and simplified into the kneehole “burry” or desk. Until c.1740 these were usually made of walnut or red walnut, although
provincial examples in oak and fruitwood also survive. The most sophisticated examples include those made of burr woods or of stained woods, simulating mulberry, and also “japanned” kneeholes, usually black or red. The most elaborate George I and George II kneeholes (1714-60) have both crossbanded and featherbanded decoration; the tops and sides are often quarter-veneered. The ever-larger kneeholes made under George III (1760-1820) were constructed in mahogany, often in the solid, with mahogany drawer-linings; they are often exotically decorated, and stand on shaped bracket feet, which replaced the earlier bun feet.
PEDESTAL DESKS
The introduction of pedestal desks – a predominantly British form – reflected the demand for large, freestanding desks, which were more comfortable to sit at than the kneehole desk. First made in walnut c.1720 to 1730, they became widespread in mahogany during the reign of George II. Late 18th-century desks usually have three drawers in the friezes; the pedestals are fitted with either drawers or folio cupboards, and stand on moulded plinths, often with hidden casters. Pine or oak examples tend to be painted underneath with a reddish wash, and Regency pedestal desks are also blackened. During the early I 9th century, exotic timbers, particularly rosewood, salamander, amboyna, and ebony, were used, and firms such as Marsh & Tatham of London enriched Regency pedestal desks with brass inlay. Reacting to this trend, the cabinet-maker George Bullock (c.1777-1818) championed the use of indigenous woods, particularly pollard oak and holly. This return to natural woods and utilitarian designs influenced the Victorian cabinet-makers, whose desks are distinguished by their squatter, slightly heavier form and plain wooden knob handles. More elaborate examples were produced in the late 19th century in satinwood and marquetry, or with painted decoration, by firms including Edwards & Roberts.

• BUREAUX MAZARINS late 19th-century copies often have inset leather tops instead of marquetry ones.
• KNEEHOLE DESKS crossbanding and featherbanding to the sides, brushing-slides, or fitted drawers add to their desirability; lacquered-brass handles (often replaced) arc a good indication of quality – the finest examples often have either engraved metalwork or elaborately pierced backplates; most examples have thin dovetailed drawer-linings in oak, but provincial kneeholes are Often made of pine; early provincial examples have different and cheaper stained timber on the sides.

Davenports
An entry made in the 1790s in the records of the cabinetmakers Gillow (est. c.1730) of Lancaster states: “Captain Davenport, a desk”. This is thought to be the first recorded example of the small writing cabinets now called by the Captain’s name. It is not known whether he ordered the desk for his own use, or as a gift for a lady.
For most of the 19th century the Davenport was generally used by women. The basic form, consisting of a small chest-of-drawers with a desk compartment on top, changed very little over the century or so during which most examples were produced. However, there were many minor variations. Most Davenports have four drawers that open at the side of the base sections, with simulated drawer fronts on the opposite sides. Just above the drawers there may be pull-out slides to hold papers or finished letters. Some examples depart from this pattern, with cupboards concealing drawers, but either way the arrangement is symmetrical, with dummy drawers or cupboard doors matching the real ones. Many Davenports are fitted with casters, allowing them to be moved about easily; because of their free-standing nature, they should be well veneered and finished to the same standard on all four sides.
The top section typically comprises a desk with a sloping lid inset with a leather writing surface, and a flat ledge behind it enclosed by a brass or wooden gallery.
One or two small drawers for storing writing implements and ink pull out sideways below. The finest examples have ingeniously concealed hinged drawers.
The first Davenport has a top section that slides forward to accommodate the writer’s legs and is anchored by a simple iron rod sliding into holes lined up in the top and bottom. As the Victorian period progressed (from c.1847), the desk section was more often fixed in the writing position, and supported on elaborately scrolled or turned supports or brackets, allowing a recessed space for more leg room, and emphasizing the width of the piece. However, the catalogue of the firm of William Smee & Sons (est. 1817) of Finsbury Pavement in London, which is undated but was probably produced c.1840, shows examples with both sliding- and fixed-desk sections.
While mahogany was the most popular wood for Davenports, some of the finest examples were made in rosewood,
particularly during the Regency period. These were often embellished with stringing lines of brass, a contrast carried further by the use of decorative brass drawer-handles, gilt-brass galleries at the back, and brass tappings on the feet.
Most Victorian Davenports had wooden galleries, and these could take the form of simple mouldings, turned spindles, or lacy fretwork. Turned wooden drawer knobs also replaced earlier brass handles, but some of the finest mid-19th-century Davenports had brass galleries and gilt-brass candle sconces on rotating arms fixed to the sides of the desks toward the back.
The popularity of the Davenport continued until the end of the l 9th century, but few of these late examples, often over-ornamented and of generally clumsy proportions, matched the quality of craftsmanship of those made up to the 1860s.
• CONSTRUCTION two main types: the plain Regency
box-type, which has a reading slope that slides.
forward, creating a comfortable knee aperture, and the type introduced c.1840, which has a rising superstructure and a recessed knee aperture
• WOODS the most common woods used were rosewood, mahogany, and burr-walnut.
• MECHANISM the rise on the mechanical Davenport runs on a leather belt and weights; it is released by a spring lock that opens to reveal pigeon holes and drawers.
• COLLECTING the Regency Davenport tends to be more popular than later Victorian examples; although collectable, Davenports are not as usable as bureaux; good-quality examples are well finished on all sides, and also on the inside.

Library and writing tables.
The earliest-known tables specifically designed for writing date from 16th-century Italy, when cabinetmakers produced elaborately carved walnut tables with sloping desks fitted into the tops and small drawers below for the storage of writing materials. Similar tables, or bureaux, probably originated in France during the third quarter of the 16th century.
THE 18TH CENTURY
Tables designed specifically for writing were introduced in England after the Restoration (1660). French tables influenced English designs during this period, and both French and English examples were usually made of oak or walnut with a rectangular folding top. The flap was supported by baluster or tapered pillar legs they are often decorated with “seaweed” or floral marquetry and closely parallel the Dutch models. During the early 18th century the Louis XIV concept of a free-standing bureau plat (a flat-topped writing table) invented by Andre-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) was taken up and adapted by English cabinet-makers. Intended to occupy a central position in the library, and to act as a statement of the wealth and power of its owner, such desks reached the zenith of their popularity in England during the mid-18th century, and by the third edition of The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director (1762) by Thomas Chippendale (1718-79), no less than 11 types of carved open pedestal desk were illustrated.
As postal systems developed, and as paper became cheaper and standards of education improved, so the need arose for less stately versions of the writing table, particularly for use by women. Some of these tables appeared in Chippendale’s Director; while others featured in The Universal System of Household Furniture (1762) by John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince (c.1738-1804). A great range of new forms came into use at this time, which were notably lighter than their predecessors. Neo-classical tables were made in exotic hardwoods such as satinwood, an expensive and very fashionable wood that was particularly suited to this lighter style of table, and many examples were adorned with fine marquetry.
THE 19TH CENTURY
Several new types of writing table developed during the Regency period (c.1790-1830), including the Carlton House desk, named after the London home of the Prince of Wales (later George IV). Another fashionable form featured curved X-shaped supports at either end, with drawers in the frieze, and the flat top enclosed by a three-quarter brass gallery. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, furniture designers were given the opportunity to create a wide range of new forms, when the technology required to marry wood
to metal – developed for military purposes – was applied to furniture. The furniture of the Regency period was therefore characterized by elegant design combined with ambitious construction techniques. New features included galleries at the top of the table, used either for decorative effect or to hold books safely; numerous small drawers, hinged flaps, and curved ramps, which could be pulled out as required, extending the available surface and facilitating activities such as drawing and painting; and screens that extended beyond the main structure in order to shield the writer’s face from the heat of the fire. In addition, revolving circular or polygonal “drum”tables were invented for the library, where they were used for storing and displaying books and paper.
• “BUHL” WORK examples tend to be inferior to those of the 17th and early 18th centuries: the gilding is generally brassier and the tops are inlaid, in contrast to the leather-lined tops of the 17th-century prototypes; the drawer-linings of original examples were usually in oak, while on the copies they are in walnut.
• ALTERATIONS leather tops can get ripped and have often been replaced – this should not affect value; heavy legs have often been replaced with lighter legs of an earlier style to make the table more commercial.

Writing cabinets-on-stands
Small slope-topped writing boxes were known from medieval times, and during the 16th and early 17th centuries they continued to be associated with the needs of a highly educated elite. With their sloping lids, often lipped at the lower edge, they could double as reading lecterns, and many were decorated with carving, inlay, or painting. Inside they were fitted with compartments and small drawers for papers and writing equipment. Conveniently portable, they could be used on top of a table or chest.
EARLY CABINETS-ON-STANDS
During the second half of the 17th century a new form of writing compendium, with its own base support, was developed. Also known as a scriptor, or, in France, an escritoire, the writing cabinet-onstand was a rectangular structure, based on the
Spanish vargueno (writing desk) Instead of a sloping lift-up top, it had a fall front concealing drawers and pigeon holes, which opened to form a writing surface supported on cords at either side. The exterior presented an inviting
surface for veneering. Fine examples were made with oyster veneers of walnut or cocus wood, or with floral or “seaweed” marquetry; some cabinets were inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, or japanned to imitate Oriental lacquer. The most spectacular, japanned in brilliant colours on white or light-coloured grounds, were by Gerard Dagly (1657-1715) of Berlin. The legs of the stand were baluster or spiral turned typical of fashionable furniture of this period. Already, by the close of the I 7th century, many of these cabinets had a distinctly feminine flavour, with compartments for toiletries, jewellery, and writing equipment.
Alongside the development of the mainstream bureau and bureau cabinet in the early 18th century was that of the slightly built slope-topped writing desk of bureau form, set upon a cabriole-legged base, with frieze drawers. Some of these desks were surmounted by toilet mirrors, showing their dual function as writing and dressing tables. Typically, they were veneered in walnut or marquetry, but some fine examples are decorated with japanning.
drawer below. French examples were lavishly decorated, with gilt-bronze mounts and fine marquetry veneers of unusual woods, and sometimes with porcelain plaques, or panels of Oriental lacquer. By the last quarter of the 18th century the cabriole supports – the last vestiges of the Rococo – were discarded in favour of straight-tapered legs, often with gilded grooves and understretchers.
The English interpretation of the bonheur du jour was more restrained, relying for its elegance on finely figured timbers and well-judged proportions; edges were straight and legs square tapered. Mahogany or satinwood was often contrasted with bandings or panels of rosewood, sycamore, tulip, or box. Both French and British styles were adopted by cabinet-makers in other parts of Europe. Porcelain plaques, marquetry, and ormolu mounts all appear on bonheurs du jour in Germany, Austria, and Poland, but the structure of such pieces tends to be spare and square rather than voluptuous.

• WRITING CABINETS-ON-STANDS some early very
fine examples were decorated with veneered with burr-walnut, oyster veneering or marquetry (floral or “seaweed”), inlaid or japanned; this type of furniture although not always very useful (unlike the bureau in all its forms) is very desirable, so unless the decoration is very badly damaged, they will still generally command high prices.
• BONHEURS DU JOUR usually very popular items of decorative furniture; those made in the late 18th-century style of Sheraton are particularly popular.
LATER CABINETS-ON-STANDS
In France, luxurious writing-cum-toilet tables for use in ladies’ apartments were made in large numbers from the beginning of the Rococo period in the early 18th century. Veneered in fine marquetry of exotic woods, and with cabriole legs, they were embellished with cast-and gilt-bronze mounts. Some of these bureaux de dames had sloping lids to the superstructures, while another type, the secretaire n capucin, had a flat writing surface opening out from the table top, and a superstructure of drawers and compartments rising from the back. By the late 1760s the bonheur du jour was an established form of ladies’ writing table. As its name suggests, it was destined for the feminine “delight of the day”, i.e. letter writing. It had a flat writing surface at the front, varying arrangements of shelves, drawers, or small cupboards at the back, and a drawer below. French examples were lavishly decorated, with gilt-bronze mounts and fine marquetry veneers of unusual woods, and sometimes with porcelain plaques, or panels of Oriental lacquer. By the last quarter of the 18th century the cabriole supports – the last vestiges of the Rococo – were discarded in favour of straight-tapered legs, often with gilded grooves and understretchers.
The English interpretation of the bonheur du jour was more restrained, relying for its elegance on finely figured timbers and well-judged proportions; edges were straight and legs square tapered. Mahogany or satinwood was often contrasted with bandings or panels of rosewood, sycamore, tulip, or box. Both French and British styles were adopted by cabinet-makers in other parts of Europe. Porcelain plaques, marquetry, and ormolu mounts all appear on bonheurs du jour in Germany, Austria, and Poland, but the structure of such pieces tends to be spare and square rather than voluptuous.