DESKS  Victorian, Edwardian Pedestal
A handsome burr walnut pedestal desk with superstructure including a sloping writing surface, drawers and a turned baluster gallery. A type of desk once rather despised for its superstructure, which was often
removed to convert the piece into a flat-topped pedestal desk of more Georgian appearance. Now, however, the form is coming into its own as a genuine Victorian one with its own usefulness. 1855-1885
A mahogany cylinder bureau with a kneehole. The pedestals each have three drawers and under the sliding tambour there is a writing surface with six small drawers and letter compartments. It is a type illustrated in
several catalogues of the 1870s and 1880s, although the design goes back to earlier George III forms. This is a very plain version. 1870-1890
The Victorian era was a great boom time for the pedestal desk, which was clearly much more popular for a long time than the fall-front or cylinder bureau. Not only for domestic use but also for equipping the thousands of offices which developed throughout the industrial scene, this form was adaptable to several varieties and types of wood. On the whole, oak and mahogany prevailed due to their endurance. Walnut and other woods, apart from pine, tend to be more highly valued for this reason.
The desk was made and reproduced throughout the entire period covered by this book (and still is). Where possible, approximate dates have been shown but some types such as ‘Georgian partners’ or ‘Chippendale’ can be very difficult to date precisely.
A highly decorated Reformed Gothic desk in a style which brings Burges, Seddon, Talbert and Eastlake to mind. Burges and Seddon would go for such lavish decoration; all of them would use the diagonal planking and pillared columns with central collars. It is interesting to compare this version of Gothic with that of ‘Chippendale’ shown in no. 325 in this section. 1860-1870
The designer of this pedestal desk has imbibed more than a little of the spirit of Reformed Gothic  note the panelled sides and slightly ‘revealed’ construction, with shaped feet.
A mahogany pedestal desk of a type made fairly continuously throughout Victoria’s reign and onwards to the present day. There is a tooled leather top, three drawers in the frieze and three drawers in each pedestal.
The moulded edge is a fairly bold type and so is the thumb nail moulding around the base.
A plain mahogany pedestal partners’ desk of large dimensions  three feet by six feet  with drawers in each opposing side, the concept being that the two partners involved could work at the same desk, facing each
other.
1870-1890 but a type made on into the present day
A carved oak pedestal desk with characteristic lion-mask carved handles to the drawers. The late Victorians and Edwardians were fond of carved oak  a taste for the medieval transmitted to them by the work of the
Gothic reformers, who would have hated this piece. 1895-1915
A further version of a carved oak pedestal desk with lion-mask carved handles. The ‘Elizabethan’ effect has been taken a stage further by the inclusion of reeded bulbs on the legs. More carving has been packed on in
foliage form and the top edge is also carved with leaf forms.
A mahogany partners’ pedestal desk on carved serpentine bracket feet in ‘Chippendale’ style. The canted corners are carved with leaf and foliage decoration and the top edge is gadrooned. The top is inset with tooled leather. A straightforward high quality piece which states that it is reproduction from the carved decoration.
A mahogany cylinder bureau or pedestal desk on serpentine feet with a pierced brass gallery rail around the top. The piece is inlaid with marquetry of 18th century inspiration (Adam, Hepplewhite and Sheraton all
spring to mind) including the splendid central vase in an oval panel on the cylinder front and swags, husks, leaf and floral decoration elsewhere. It has been said of other ‘Edwardian Sheraton’ pieces that the craftsmen
of this period had a tendency to over-egg the pudding and this piece is inclined towards an example of this trait. There is just a bit too much decoration, a tendency to flashiness which distinguishes the piece from its
18th century original. A handsome piece, nevertheless, requiring some first class craftmanship to execute.
1890-1910
A mahogany pedestal desk in the early Georgian manner, with clustered columns on the pedestal corners and Gothic blind fret tracery around the frieze. There are three drawers in the frieze on the viewed side, with
three drawers in each pedestal below. The out-of-view side has three drawers in the frieze and cupboards below  an arrangement normally fitted to a ‘Partners’ desk but in fact allowing the desk to be viewed
favourably from both sides. The quality of workmanship and carving is high  note the carved moulded edge to the top and the plinth around the base. 1920-1940
A walnut ‘Queen Anne’ kneehole desk, made as an accurate reproduction of a period piece. The top is quarter veneered and the drawers have a diagonal banding and lip moulding round the edges. The pierced handles
are a little late in design for the period of the desk, but otherwise the proportions and restraint of the veneers are a good copy. 1920-1930
right) A somewhat 1930s interpretation in the use of matched figures walnut veneers on the drawer fronts but without excessive over-figure or burring (’Queen Anne’ versions of pedestal desks, with feather banding,
etc., etc., were not uncommon in the 1930s). The choice of ring handles, however, if original, is odd.
An inlaid mahogany kidney-shaped pedestal desk or writing table in the Sheraton manner, with boxwood inlaid stringing lines and set on square tapering legs ending in brass castors. The top is inset with tooled leather.
The kidney-shaped desk is a perennial favourite and can often be highly decorative, with burr veneers and marquetry adding enormously to value.
A rather spindly cabriole-legged writing table-cum-pedestal desk, half way between either definition, which shows how, in Edwardian times, there was a movement towards versions of the ‘Queen Anne’ style which
heralded the outburst of burrs and cabrioles of the 1920s. In this case the decoration of the drawers is late 18th/early 19th century Sheraton in origin, whereas the legs are somewhat apologetic cabrioles, i.e. a version of an early 18th century style. The piece is in mahogany, which is not a Queen Anne wood. 1900-1910
A high quality mahogany pedestal desk, on square tapering legs, with inlaid boxwood stringing lines. There is a brass gallery rail about four inches high at the back, which has a diamond-pattern fret. By using the
stringing lines to describe panels on the drawer fronts and facings of the frame, the makers have managed to convey the impression of a restrained, quality piece. c.1900
A mahogany half-pedestal desk of Sheraton style with drawers banded in satinwood. The top is inset with tooled leather.
Figured walnut and cabriole legs  a 1920s pedestal desk of considerable quality, showing the onset of the modified Queen Anne styles which became so popular. This is a slightly more modernised approach
than the slavish copies of the style that were prevalent. 1920-1930

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DESKS About 1810-1840
Classical period (known at the time as ‘Grecian’): Immigrant craftsmen - notably Lannuier in New York, Bouvier and Quervelle in Philadelphia -introduce French Empire style.
Mahogany secretaire-a-abattant, about 1815.
Desks embody features of the grand Napoleonic manner. Some are flat, leather-topped library tables, others are a new version of the secretary desk with a vertical fall. French influence felt after 1830 (see p. 255).
Honduras mahogany, Brazilian rosewood, gilt bronze mounts.
Columns or pilasters flanking fronts. Classical motifs - anthemion, lyre - figure in ormolu mounts.
All top-quality work veneered in choice woods such as figured mahogany, rosewood, maple - and French polished.
Chippendale, Federal and Empire: Top quality desks expensive, especially anything related stylistically to a name such as Townsend, Adams, Lannuier. Rich decoration attracts rich buyers. Fairly plain, wholly anonymous desks are much more affordable. Best buy is type with vertical fall-front.
Massive forms mounted on flat plinths or low feet of ‘dolphin’ or’paw’ type, in carved wood r case bronze.
Above, flat plinth; left, paw foot.
Above, lyre ormolu mount; right, column mounted in gilt metal.
DESKS About 1840-1890
Right, interior of late-19thC patent ‘Wootton” desk.
Commerce creates an increasing demand for wide variety of office desks.
Office types included a writing-slope on tall legs; the American roll-top and the patent Wootton type; grand types in historic styles for successful businessmen. Hand-made, dual-purpose desks such as the sewing desk continued to be produced by Shakers for themselves and for sale.
Pine for clerks’ desks, oak for roll-tops; walnut or mahogany for Wootton patents; mahogany and rosewood for status symbols; walnut, cherry, maple, butternut, pumpkin pine for Shaker pieces.
Machine-cut dovetails, dowel joints often used in place of mortise-and-tenon. Plywood for drawer-bottoms, late 19thC.
Machine production camouflaged to look hand-made  Renaissance-style turning and carving favoured at mid-century (see p. 191).
Rosewood and kingwood veneers on ‘Louis’ style bureaux plats. Leather or baize insets on writing-surfaces. Varnish, French polishing.
Many good buys among plainer pieces. The more decorative they are, the higher the price. High prices paid for free-standing grand types  to impress the clients. Wootton and roll-top types increasing in value.
19th CENTURY REPRODUCTIONS
The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (1876) sparked off a craze for reproductions of 18thC American
furniture, slant-top and fall-front desks included, but most over-decorated and out of proportion.
Above left, fine hand-cut dovetails, Widely spaced; above right machine-cut dovetails.
Dowel joint: dowels glued into rail and set into stile.
DESKS About 1840-1890
Right, interior of late-19th century patent ‘Wootton’ desk.
Commerce creates an increasing demand for wide variety of office desks.
Office types included a writing-slope on tall legs; the American roll-top and the patent Wootton type; grand types in historic styles for successful businessmen. Hand-made, dual-purpose desks such as the sewing desk continued to be produced by Shakers for themselves and for sale.
Pine for clerks’ desks, oak for roll-tops; walnut or mahogany for Wootton patents; mahogany and rosewood for status symbols; walnut, cherry, maple, butternut, pumpkin pine for Shaker pieces.
Machine-cut dovetails, dowel joints often used in place of mortise-and-tenon. Plywood for drawer-bottoms, late 19thC.
Machine production camouflaged to look hand-made  Renaissance-style turning and carving favoured at mid-century (see p. 191).
Rosewood and kingwood veneers on ‘Louis’ style bureaux plats. Leather or baize insets on writing-surfaces. Varnish, French polishing.
Many good buys among plainer pieces. The more decorative they are, the higher the price. High prices paid for free-standing grand types  to impress the clients. Wootton and roll-top types increasing in value.
19th CENTURY REPRODUCTIONS
The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (1876) sparked off a craze for reproductions of 18thC American furniture, slant-top and fall-front desks included, but most over-decorated and out of proportion.
Above left, fine hand-cut dovetails, widely spaced; above right, machine-cut dovetails.

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English Bureau Bookcase

A Queen Anne walnut bureau bookcase of the slender ’single width’ type with simple bookcase above. There is a chamfered edge period glass mirror in the door. The bureau section exhibits all the characteristics of ordinary bureaux of the period - herring-bone inlays and cross banding, drawer edge mouldings and stepped interior. The door on the bookcase is beautifully veneered in cross-banded effect.
Price Range: E2,000-Z2,500 Value points: See section notes

A burr walnut Queen Anne period bureau-bookcase of fine quality, with a broken pediment showing a fine bold cross grained moulding. The chamfered door mirrors are edged by a thin ‘D’ moulding and beneath the doors the two tiny brass knobs indicate candle slides. The interior shows the pillar flanked door which has a star pattern inlay in boxwood and ebony. The exterior drawers are edged with cock beading and have a herring-bone inlay.
Price Range: $2, 500 - $5, 000 Value points: See section notes

A bureau-bookcase of the Hepplewhite period in which the change to the latticed glazed doors instead of mirrors which took place after the mid-18th 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 18th century.
Price Range: $1,500-$2,000
Value points: This is an extremelyfine example as far as choice of veneers and craftsmanship are concerned, hence the high price scale.
See section notes.

A fine quality mahogany mid-18th century bureau-bookcase 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.
Price Range: $500-$700
Value points: See section notes

A country bureau-bookcase of c. 1750 in yew wood with double domed doors and having a narrow drawer on either side under the fall to act as bearers. The interior has pigeon holes and drawers with an unusual centre door let into a well. The sides are left in oak. Evidently a countryman’s version of the town style and possibly made a few years after the latter became fashionable; one could surmise that an attempt at imitating the double-domed walnut pieces of the Queen Anne period is possible.
Price Range: $150-$175
Value points Yew wood

A mahogany bureau-bookcase of mid-18th century date. 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 dimens ions.
Price Range: $230-$320
Value points: See section notes

A George I period walnut bureau-bookcase of heavier proportions. The top of the bookcase shows the deep concave section below the moulding, veneered in crossgrained wood, which was a feature of later pieces of the walnut period. There are candle slides beneath the bookcase doors. The drawers have a lip edge moulding to overlap the flat veneered carcase edges.
Price Range: $1,000-$1,500 Value points: See section notes

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