Rare English Regency Period Mahogany Adjustable Reading Table, circa 1820

A rare gilt bronze mounted marquetry pedestal desk by François Linke. French, circa 1900. Linke Index Number 711. Linke title ‘Bureau LXV à 8 pieds’. Stamped to the insi...

A magnificent and very rare Régence style marquetry inlaid grand bureau plat or writing desk. Inscribed to the carcass 'Moreaux 72'. Dating from the second half of the nineteenth century this magnificent and very rare bureau plat has finely cast rocaille gilt-bronze mounts and is decorated overall with truly breath-taking seventeenth century marquetry, depicting fantastical townscapes, knights, soldiers, hunting and architectural-scenes. Of serpentine rectangular form the top is veneered with superb marquetry panels within a foliate scrolled border and a rocaille shell-cast gilt-bronze surround, both sides featuring a recessed central drawer flanked on each side by a drawer applied with male and female terms, scrolled handles, and reserves with conforming drawers; the bombé sides are centred by foliate scrolls, and the whole raised on cabriole legs headed by cartouches with foliate entwined chutes terminating in scrolled sabots. Of impressive scale this fine bureau plat, in the manner of a partners desk, features working drawers to each side. This model of bureau plat was made by a small number of celebrated Parisian cabinet makers in the second half of the 19th century including Beurdeley, Cremer and Befort Jeune. It is incredibly rare to see this model of bureau plat inlaid in marquetry. The exceptional quality and style indicate the use of older reused marquetry, almost certainly dating from the late 17th century and originating from the Augsburg region of Germany. Similar models but lacking the exceptional marquetry inlay can be found in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch at Bowhill, and the Earl of Normanton at Somerlely. Christopher Payne notes that the latter was part of a pair sold by the London dealer Toms & Luscombe in 1871. He illustrates the present bureau plat in his book ‘European Furniture of the 19th Century’ (p. 88-89), along with two related desks minus the marquetry inlay (p. 92 -93). The exceptional and highly complex marquetry inlay and intarsia work, that sets this important bureau plat apart from other extant examples, would originally have formed the decorative panels of a late 17th century table cabinet, almost certainly ascribable to the Augsburg region of Germany. Augsburg emerged from the middle of the 16th century as the German centre of luxury cabinet making for the international market. In particular, the development of marquetry contributed to this prominent position, favoured by the ready availability of indigenous woods and the reputation that Augsburg had the best craftsmen able to cut thin layers of veneers in the most intricate motifs (C.S. Wood, ‘The Perspective Treatise in Ruins: Lorenz Stöer, Geometria et perspectiva, 1567’, Studies in the History of Art, no. 59, p. 246). Table cabinets, conceived as a form of Wunderkammer or cabinets of curiosities, were intended as repositories for all manner of wondrous and exotic objects and by the 1550s the grandest cabinets in Europe were being made in Augsburg. Decorated almost entirely with sumptuous marquetry, often depicting perspective views of ruins and fantastical townscapes, they become by the 1590s highly regarded as important diplomatic gifts. Fine Augsburg marquetry panels remained popular throughout the ages and were frequently re-used to create or embellish new items of furniture, such as this magnificent bureau plat. Their inclusion was not only for their highly decorative appeal, but to contemporary eyes, a means by which to imbue a new creation with a sense of true historical authenticity. The importance of such panels is often reflected in the high cost involved in repurposing them. A fine example of this is the celebrated 17th century cabinet on stand...

A fine gilt-bronze mounted mahogany table vitrine by Georges-Francois Alix. French, circa 1890. Stamped to the underside and to the reverse of th...

A Louis XVI Style gilt bronze mounted mahogany low table with a grey marble top. French, circa 1890. This table has a rectangular grey marble top above a frieze with a central ...

A gilt-bronze mounted mahogany table Ambulante with a marble top attributed to François Linke. The table has a circular inset top above a band frieze with applied mounts. It is r...

A fine Napoleon III gilt bronze mounted Empire style mahogany pedestal desk. French, circa 1870. This imposing Empire style pedestal desk is mounted with fine gilt bronze Egypt...

An exceptional circa 1820 English regency period rectangular-form writing or occasional table attributed to Gillows having brass bound cusped-corner top with ebony line inlay and satinwood feather-banding surrounding center field of bookmatched amboyna, the double elliptical high arched stretchers joining gilt-brass-mounted end supports having turned calamander spindles and braces issuing turned finials between ebony downswept legs ending in acanthus-leaf-cast brass casters. Several 'spindle end' writing tables were featured in the 'Gillows Estimate Sketch Book' of 1818, and a table of similar end supports stamped GILLOWS LANCASTER is illustrated in Susan Stuart's 'Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840', Vol. I., Woodbridge: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2008. pl. 329, p. 301, stating "a table frame with spindle ends was supplied in the 1820s by Gillows of London to display marble brought back from the Grand Tour by the Tempests of Broughton Hall...

This handsome piece consists of two sections on a lifting ratchet, a fine mahogany Regency period reading/writing table featuring an adjustable top over a substantial base support. R...

A fine quality English Regency period brass inlaid side table, with a hinged reading / writing slope, compartments opening to the sides for writing and drawing implements, a pleated box...

English Regency (circa 1830) mahogany table desk with 3 beaded opposing drawers over a leather top with a molded edge and supported on carved cabriole legs (attributed to GILLOWS)

A very good quality 19th century Regency mahogany two-tier dumb-waiter, raised on ring turned column support and a three splay base with the original brass cup castors.

An English Regency period writing table from the early 19th century, with red lacquered, black and gilt chinoiserie decor and cabriole leg...