Antique English Mahogany and Walnut Bureau
Antique English Furniture - Mahogany and Walnut Bureau
An Edwardian inlaid bureau with cylinder front, c.1905. Eighteenth century and Regency styles became popular at the end of the nineteenth century and this is a good example of Edwardian ‘Sheraton’. The square tapering legs with their thin stringing line end in casters. The inlay of the rosewood drawers and front is however, more profuse, and incorporates Adam motifs, whereas the gallery shows Gothic arching. Beneath the cylinder front, itself a feature of the late eighteenth century, there is a slide which pulls out to provide additional writing space. Highly exportable.
Decorative woods and inlays
A antique country bureau in solid walnut of c.1730. The interior shows the earlier William and Mary influence in the stepped concave drawers and well. The shaped aprons over the pigeon holes are also typical. The exterior drawers and outside of the fall are cross-banded in walnut or fruitwood. The handles are riot original and the bracket feet have been repaired. The drawers are pine lined.
Quality of workmanship, i.e. approximation to contemporary town craftsmanship
Country walnut (solid) bureau of c.1730, again showing William and Mary period influence in the stepped interior, but which is simpler and less refined than the previous example. The stepped drawers for instance are not concave. There is a well and the exterior drawers are again cross-banded in walnut or fruitwood.
A walnut bureau of c.1725-30 furniture, showing the interior, where the stepped design of the William and Mary period has given way to the Georgian straight interior with its corresponding loss of charm. The centre door is flanked by pillars with secret drawers. The interior and exterior drawers are inlaid with boxwood and ebony stringing. The carcase fronts around the drawers are flat veneered and the drawer edges have a ‘lip’ ovolo moulding. There is no interior well; a shallow drawer under the fall occupies this space.
An interesting antique mahogany bureau on stand, c.1740. The style is one which can be traced back to the Queen Anne period, when veneered walnut bureaux of this type, on stands with cabriole legs, were made. The early ones incorporated the stylistic features of the period, with shell carving, quartered veneers and so on. The bureau above has cock-beaded drawers and swan-neck drop handles. The stand has rather provincial cabriole legs ending in pad or club feet and the flat facets at the knee have been left without brackets. A slight relic of former style is in the downward pointed centre apron, which would have been ogee curved or carved on earlier pieces.
The mahogany bureau, c.1740, of the preceding page, shown open. It can be seen that the interior also follows the style of an early period since it is stepped and the pigeon holes have arched shaping at the top, which incorporates the ogee curving of the Queen Anne period. There is no well and the drawer fronts are straight.
A typical mahogany bureau furniture of the rnid and later eighteenth century.The example illustrated here is perhaps a rather boldly wide one but as a type such bureaux, with cock-beaded drawers, were made in large numbers in a variety of sizes throughout the epoch. The mahogany varies in figure and decoration from piece to piece but they are extremely durable and many survive in almost original condition. At present, with walnut and oak making all the running, it could be that they are rather underpriced; the danger is that the larger ones tend to jet’ converted into bureau-bookcases by the addition of a suitable cabinet. Size is, of course, an all-important factor in such pieces.
The mid-eighteenth century antique bureau of the preceding example shown with the fall open. The interior still owes much to earlier styles, with the outer pairs of drawers set forward from the line of the centre; they are not stepped vertically however. The inlaid star decoration and chequered panel line in boxwood and ebony on the centre door also owe their origin to earlier influences but the almost dentilled effect of the frieze under the top edge is of later inspiration. Note that the pillars of earlier designs on either side of the door have been replaced by a fluted surface.
A mahogany bureau-bookcase of c.1750. The bureau section follows the characteristics of ordinary bureaux, with cock-beaded drawers, bracket feet and a straight interior under the fall, with no well. The bookcase section has mirrored doors and a dentil section incorporated in the top edge moulding. This is a simple and undecorated example of fairly broad dimensions.
A small George III period mahogany bureau on ogee bracket feet, c.1770 This is a veneered piece, evidently because the wood is so finely figured and would have been wasteful to use in the solid. There is a chequered stringing line around each cock-beaded drawer and the fall, which are cross-banded. The inside is fitted with pigeon holes and five drawers.
A bureau-bookcase of the Hepplewhite period c.1790, in which the change to the latticed glazed doors instead of mirrors,which took place after the mid-eighteenth century, is demonstrated. A broken arched pediment with pierced fret completes the design above a dentillated moulding. The bureau section reflects the change towards commodes in the chest of drawers field, in that panelled veneered doors enclose the drawers below the fall. The feet are still of bracket type but a shaped apron between them reflects the taste of the last part of the eighteenth century.
Value points: This is an extremely fine example as far as choice of veneers and craftsmanship are concerned, hence the high price scale.
An early nineteenth century mahogany bureau with symmetrical veneers in a vertical grained figure, c.1820. The interior is straight, with pigeon holes and drawers and the sides are of solid mahogany. In the later period the veneered pieces tended to be of better quality, usually lined in oak.
An early nineteenth century antique mahogany bureau on splayed feet with a shaped apron, c.1820. The fall is cross-banded and the drawers have a normal cock-bead. Due to the angle of the photograph the bureau appears to be perched rather high on its legs, but its proportion follows that of the chests of drawers of the same period.
A fine quality mahogany bureau-bookcase furniture, c.1750, with broken pediment above and candle slides beneath the bookcase doors. The bureau section is made of well chosen figured mahogany and the piece appears to feature the unusual characteristics of having the two small upper drawers on either side beneath the fall to act as bearers for the fall when open. The shaping of the mirrored doors to echo the cornice, with its dentil frieze beneath the top moulding, adds considerable quality to the design.
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Tags: Adam, Antique, antique english furniture, antique mahogany, cabriole, chest, Drawers, Edwardian, ENGLISH, George III, late eighteenth century, mahogany, Queen Anne, rosewood, walnut