English Globe Desk by Morgan & Sanders

This extremely rare English Regency globe desk was crafted by the highly respected firm of Morgan & Sanders and boasts outstanding design and flawless construction. Morgan & Sanders were producers of top quality furniture of the late Georgian and Regency period who were well known for their innovative designs. To find a signed example of their work in such immaculate condition is truly extraordinary.



Lock is signed “Patent Morgan & Sanders/Inventors & Manufacturers/16 & 17 Catherine Street, Strand, 1810 London”



Specialists in the manufacture of “metamorphic” furniture, upholsterers and cabinet-makers Thomas Morgan and Joseph Sanders operated the highly successful firm of Morgan & Sanders. The firm flourished between 1801 and 1820. Sanders was a highly innovative designer, patenting designs and improvements to “The Metamorphic Library Chair,” “The Imperial Dining Table” and “Merlin’s Mechanical Chair.” They marketed aggressively, advertising in both London and provincial newspapers, and supplied furniture to not only the hero of the time, Lord Horatio Nelson, but enjoyed Royal patronage, as well. Much of what the company designed can be called campaign furniture, and they crafted furniture of “transportable comfort” aimed at the Army and Navy markets. In fact, both the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich and the Royal Naval Museum shows examples of their work. A series of the firm’s designs were published in Rudolph Ackermann’s Repository of the Arts, a well-respected monthly periodical, between 1809 until 1815, which also helped the company’s reputation as the most famous promoters of multipurpose furniture. After the death of Joseph Sanders in 1818, the company was renamed Morgan & Co. and sold to their foreman, John Durham, in 1820.



References:

Regency Furniture, 1985, Frances Collard

Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture, 1700-1840, 1996, Christopher Gilbert

British Campaign Furniture: Elegance under Canvas, 1740-1914, 2001, Nicholas A. Brawer

London Furniture Makers, 1660-1840, 1953, Sir Ambrose Heal