DAVENPORTS
Rosewood avenport, with elegant Regency decorations, showing the unusual feature of a towing handle.
A burr walnut, fine quality davenport with inlaid stringing lines and brass gallery rail. The flap folds over and is supported by two Topers, a more comfortable arrangement than most. 1820-1840
The name davenport is assumed to have arisen from an entry in [...]
Antique Night Tables
In the second half of the 18th century a form of cupboard on legs became very popular as an antique night table or commode to hold a chamber pot. It is known that Chippendale supplied this type of article and that Ince and Mayhew as well as Sheraton, illustrated various designs of [...]
SECRETAIRES bookcase
The late eighteenth century saw something of a flowering of antique secretaire-drawer bookcases and some of the finest cabinet makers worked on this form.
Mahogany secretaire bookcase on bracket feet. The rather square design of glazing bar is typical of the third and last quarters of the century.
A mahogany secretaire bookcase on splayed feet of [...]
Bureau
After the English Civil War, the increase in literacy, coupled with the extension of the Government postal service to include the whole population, meant an increasing demand for antique bureau.
Antique bureau features:
1. Writing height not less than 2 ft 6 in or more than 2 ft 8 in.
2. Interior fittings often arched with drawers beneath [...]
Antique Escritoire
Signs of authenticity of antique escritoire
1. Backs of top and base same colour and patination.
2. Carcase wood dry and dusty to the touch.
3. Fine grain of carcase and veneer both vertical on sides, always running in same
direction.
4. Oak drawers with grain running front to back on drawer bottoms in more than one piece to [...]
Antique Chiffonier
1. Carcases of antique chiffonier are made of Honduras mahogany or Scandinavian red pine.
2. In solid rosewood from c.1830, inlaid or decorated with brass inlay, often to a specific pattern like a stencilled design.
3. Inner surfaces still planed and finished by hand until c. 1835.
4. Veneers still hand-cut until c.1830, after which they were [...]