A rare small early-18th century walnut bureau bookcase/ cabinet

A small mid-18th century mahogany bureau bookcase or cabinet. George II period, circa 1740. This diminutive Georgian bureau bookcase (also s...

A small late 18th century secretaire bookcase / cabinet. George III period, circa 1790. Of very good rich color. Inlaid and crossbanded throughout. Only 2'5" wide. Mounts are corre...

A very impressive mahogany bureau cabinet / bookcase / secretary*, with secret compartments. In the manner of Giles Grendey (1693-1780). In mahogany and parcel gilt. Mid-18th century, George II period. This English bureau cabinet displays fine, deep, rich colour and superb surface patination throughout. The top section with a broken-arch pediment and dentil cornice. The frieze well carved with Gothic arcaded blind fretwork. Centred by a later urn-shaped finial. The cabinet with two carved parcel-gilt gesso bordered ogee shaped doors. Old but apparently later mirror plates enclosing a fitted interior with eight drawers and adjustable shelves. The cleated fall, with its original lock, now fitted with a wine red, gilt-tooled writing surface revealing an exceptionally high-quality arrangement of canopied drawers and pigeon holes. The interior is centred by an arched, architectural over door...

An 18th-century mahogany bureau cabinet of impressive architectural form and lovely rich color. George II period, circa 1740. The top surmounted by a bold architectural pediment and centered by a brass finial. The two arched panel doors reveal three adjustable shelves which have candle slides below them. Furthermore, the bureau section is fitted with a stepped interior. This has two secret compartments, drawers and pigeon holes, and the fall is conventionally supported on two lopers. Lined in the best quality English oak. The blind doors of this Georgian cabinet have well-figured mahogany panels of very good rich color which reflect beautifully in the candle light. The chamfered and arched doors display a further level of sophistication and quality. The beautifully-drawn arched pediment is in perfect proportion with the rest of the cabinet / bookcase. In excellent condition overall. Architectural furniture designs on the continent commenced with the arrival of the Renaissance, and they have their origins in Roman and Greek architecture. Nb. Bureau bookcases display books, china or silver behind glazed doors, but are described more accurately as bureau cabinets when they are fitted with blind doors. We often refer to antique bookcases / cabinets as ''secretary desks'' in the US. Information on pediments: 'Illustrated Dictionary...

A rare William & Mary period walnut double-dome bureau bookcase / cabinet. Circa 1685. Of compact size and proportions. In excellent overall condition with old, waxed, well-patinated surfaces of very good color. This bureau bookcase, or cabinet, divides into three separate sections (which helps date it to the last quarter of the 17th century). The bold double-dome pediment and cross-grain mouldings are typical of this period, and are repeated in the side returns. The book-matched, hand-cut veneers are well figured throughout, and are contained within herringbone lines. The bookcase section has candle slides, contains shelves and fitted drawers. Gilded finials are later. The centre section with a quarter-veneered fall reveals a fitted interior, concealed well and a secret compartment. The writing section is raised on a three-drawer base with an unusual and boldly-arcaded apron, in turn raised on its apparently original walnut bun feet. The drawer dividers are faced with cross-grain walnut ‘D’ mouldings. The brass engraved mounts are correct for period but not original, however the locks and hinges are. It is unusual to encounter these early bookcases / cabinets constructed in three stages; an indication of a transition taking place from the 17th into the 18th century. This is a fine, rare and sophisticated piece of late-17th century walnut furniture...

A fine and rare English parcel-gilt walnut stool. Early 18th century, George I period, circa 1720. Upholstered in 17th-century tapestry and partially clo...

A superb and exceptionally well proportioned early 18th century figured walnut ‘pagoda topped’ double dome bureau bookcase, circa 1720 England. The upper section is surmounted with what is believed to be the original solid walnut finials and soft bevelled mirror plates, opening to a removal bank of walnut veneered and feather banded drawers, cantered by pigeonholes below two shelves. Candle slides are neatly stowed below the bookcase doors to reflect the light. To the moulded bureau, the fall opens to reveal pigeonholes, long and short asymmetric drawers each beautifully veneered in figured walnut and feather banded, cantered by a cupboard door which neatly conceals an open compartment and drawer. Below the fall, two short and two long graduating oak lined drawers are each book-matched in superb sections of hand-cut figured walnut veneers over bun feet. It should be noted that this exceptional desk and bookcase, is not only of the finest cuts of figured walnut veneer but exquisitely made at the pinnacle of design which had gradually evolved predominantly in London, during the late 17thand early 18thcentury. The actual description 'desk-and-bookcase' appears to be first recorded in the accounts of the Royal cabinet-maker Gerrit Jensen (fl.1680-d.1715) who supplied several for the Royal Household from 1710 (Bowett, op. cit.), and another described as 'a walnut writing desk, the top for books and patons and glass in the doors asked' for the 5th Earl of Salisbury, Hatfield House.  Another maker of this form of desk was the London cabinet-maker John Gumley (1691-1727) who advertised in Richard Steele's Lover on April 24 1714 that he 'hath taken for a Ware-house, and furnished all the upper part of the New Exchange in the Strand' continuing with an extensive list of his stock including 'Desks and Bookcases.' In 1714 he supplied one of these in walnut to James 1st Duke of Montrose for the sum of £11. Russian cabinetwork of this period was strongly influenced by Tsar Peter I return to Russia after his studies in London. He subsequently sent twenty-four cabinetmakers who were working in Amsterdam to London to train as furniture makers. One of these cabinetmakers named Fedor Martynov made furniture for the Empress Anna Ioannovna. Martynovs drawings are almost identical to the present piece. Literature Mallett’s Great English Furniture, London: Bullfinch Press 1991, p.248, fig 287, by Lanto Synge, English Furniture 1660-1714 From Charles II to Queen Anne, by Dr Adam Bowett, Woodbridge: Antique Collector’s Club, 2002 Chapter 7 Case Furniture 1689–1714 pp.221-223 fig. 7:53 A walnut bureau bookcase of the same form and period sold from the private collection of Patricia Kluge...

Early 18th century walnut bureau bookcase, the shaped cornice above a mirrored front bookcase with the two doors opening to reveal ...

A delightful early 18th century solid walnut bureau bookcase having attractive double domed top with replacement mirror plates to panelled doors enclosing well fitted interior abov...

A fine early 18th-century George I burr walnut veneered bureau bookcase of diminutive proportions, circa 1715. In two parts divided by a cross-grain moulding. The upper section has a cavetto cornice above a large single door...

A very attractive and good quality George III period mahogany bureau bookcase having unusual castellated and carved cornice above pair of 13 pane astragal glazed doors, superbly figured flap and four long drawers with replacement brass oval plate handles raised on original shaped bracket feet (A fine example of a functional and elegant Georgian bureau bookcase...

A mid-18th century well-figured mahogany Bureau bookcase of attractive small proportions having architectural dentil-moulded cornice above shaped mirrored door with original gilt-ges...