Georgian Pedestal Desks
Antique English Georgian Walnut and Mahogany Pedestal Desks.
Original pedestal desks - George III mahogany desk - George III provincial kneehole pedestal desk - Victorian oak desk with mahogany veneer - 18th Century walnut desk
The pedestal desk was not made until c.1765 when it can be seen in its grandest form very large and ornate, and designed by Thomas Chippendale. It developed from bedroom or dressing-room furniture. The kneehole dressing table, a small, extremely decorative piece of furniture, is contemporary with the lowboy of the Queen Anne period.
There was a cupboard in the kneehole for shoes, often a pullout writing or ‘brushing’ slide, and two sets of three small drawers either side of the kneehole. A single drawer ran the length of the piece above the kneehole. Rare to find are those with drawers which pull out, their fronts hinged, to disclose a fitted writing compartment.
In simple and ornate versions, pedestal desks have remained part of library furniture in England down to the present day. Although the name `pedestal’ implies that these desks were always without shaping to the bases, from c.1765 to c.1785 many were made with curving arch-shaped brackets beneath the two pedestals, running, a solid line down the inside of the kneehole to be repeated decoratively at the back.
Signs of authenticity of desks
1. Three-piece construction should sit solidly.
2. Backs finished and veneered.
3. Carcase of Honduras mahogany, baywood or red pine.
4. Rich, dark veneer.
5. Lip-moulding overhang to writing surface.
6. Drawers oak sided. Bottom timbers running front to back until c.1780. No corner mouldings inside.
7. Inside of pedestal of same wood as rest of piece.
8. Small line of moulding at join of pedestal and top.
9. Veneer and timber grain on sides of top run vertically.
10. No cross-cut veneer round drawers.
11. Locks with rimmed brass keyholes rather than escutcheons. Steel levers to locks, brass casing.
12. Three top drawers, outside pair equal width to drawers in pedestal. Undersurface of central drawer in unveneered carcase wood.
Likely restoration and repair
13. Cut down from larger size. Central top drawer will have had veneer lifted and replaced. New handles may have been added and the holes of the old ones may still be visible inside the drawer.
14. New thin veneer on coarse-grained oak carcase.
15. New tops of solid wood with no frame of cross-cut veneer around stuck-down (rather than stud-fixed) leather panel.
16. Made-up from damaged kneehole desk with one long top drawer. New timber and veneer on inside and either side of pedestals.
17. Cut-down depth. A ’split’ can be felt under the lip-moulding where original top has been cut and veneer replaced after lifting.
Construction and materials
Original pedestal desks had three elements: two pedestals and a top section of writing surface with three integral drawers. The carcase of early desks was of cheap Honduras mahogany or baywood covered with a rich, dark veneer. Later desks had a carcase of Scandinavian, close-grained red pine. Early examples had, in each pedestal, a door concealing a flight of drawers, but by c.1790 the doors were often omitted and the drawers, with locks, became the more familiar pattern. As pedestal desks were free-standing, the desk back was well-finished and veneered.
There was no projecting decoration, such as carved feet or applied fretwork. Canted corners and pilaster mouldings were only incised where there were no doors to the pedestals. Except on very grand versions, there was little ornament unless it was flush with the surface perhaps a small inset medallion or, from c.1790, brass stringing.
Although some desks had a solid top rather than an inset leather panel, larger versions may be found with three leather panels: one large central piece and two smaller flanking pieces. An overlap of lip-moulding ran round all four sides of the top.
Variations
Below: Twin-pedestal desk in mahogany veneer, c.1850.
Above: George III provincial kneehole pedestal desk with solid back and moulded edge to top. Note the brass carrying handles.
Pedestal desks were essentially `town’ pieces but they were made in less grand designs, usually of oak on plain pedestals, by most of the leading provincial manufacturers: Gillows of Lancaster, Morgan and Sanders, Thomas Butler, John Mayhew, George Seddon. These same manufacturers would have also made grander versions for more fashionable households. In country estate offices, pedestal desks and partners’ desks, as well as rent tables, were part of the estate manager’s general equipment. Kneehole desks, either with plain backs or with the back of the kneehole filled in, were more common in country houses. They were not necessarily free-standing and were often made with lip-moulding on three sides only, unlike their smarter town counterparts.
Reproductions of antique desks:
As with the classic bureau, pedestal desks have been made continuously down to the present day. Care should be taken when `period’ pieces are offered at high prices because there are far more poorly designed, mass-produced versions around than there are high-quality craftsman-made pieces. Originals were solidly made and, with care, were durable, but many have lost one of their original three elements and have had to be made-up of pieces cannibalized from other desks. Often, this marriage produces something less than the rock-solidness of the original.
The Victorians often made them in plain, coarse-grained `bleached oak’ and the Edwardians favoured inlaid bands of light veneer outlining the drawers. Recently, standard mass-produced desks have been veneered to resemble eighteenth-or nineteenth-century pieces and sold extensively on the Continent. The veneer is likely to lift because it has been applied to the wrong carcase wood. Their tooled leather writing panels are an obvious giveaway.
Price bands
George III mahogany desk with doors concealing pedestal drawers, $10,000-12,500.
George III pedestal desk with less detail than above, mahogany veneer, $6,000–7,500.
Plain, twin pedestal desk, early nineteenth century, $1,700-2,200.
Victorian oak desk with mahogany veneer, $800-1,200.
How to identify antique desks? See some more examples and pictures:
George III kneehole mahogany desk.
18th Century walnut desk with crossbanded top.
Late 18th Century mahogany kneehole desk with a fall front secretaire drawer.
An early 18th century walnut kneehole desk, the top moulded and inlaid with feather stringing on bracket feet.
Georgian Mahogany rolltop desk, with finely fitted interior.
One-piece mahogany pedestal writing desk.
19th Century walnut and kingwood, kidney-shaped kneehole desk, the top lined with tooled leather.
Walnut kneehole writing desk with a recessed cupboard and pierced brass handles.
Mid 19th Century Anglo-Indian ivory inlaid kneehole desk.
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Tags: cupboard, Drawers, dressing table, George III, honduras mahogany, library furniture, mahogany, oak, pedestal desk, Pedestal Desks, pedestals, Queen Anne, room furniture, table, Thomas Butler, Thomas Chippendale, top drawer, top drawers, veneer