The rectangular top with inlaid central East Indian Rosewood crossbanded oval medallion and inlaid rosettes on each corner, above two concave frieze drawers, above a solid curved sliding-panel inlaid with central oval medallion within lozenge parquetry, enclosing a fitted interior of mahogany pigeon-holes above harewood and satinwood-veneered mahogany-lined drawers, the lower right drawer containing an inkwell, with a later gilt-tooled tan leather-lined pull-out writing-surface, above a shaped apron with three mahogany-lined shaped drawers, the central drawer with inlaid sunflower, the sides with ormolu handles, on cabriole legs with ormolu foliate sabots
46¼ in. (117.5 cm.) high; 37¼ in. (94.5 cm.) wide; 24 in. (61 cm.) deep

Arthur A. Leidesdorf, New York;
Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 28 June 1974, lot 140.

Art Treasures Exhibition, Christie's, London, 1932.
Art Treasures Exhibition, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 1955.

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Lot Essay

This George III lady's bureau-dressing-table, with sliding tablet and rising tambour, derives from the 1750s Parisian 'secretaire cylindre'. While conceived as a window-pier table, to accompany a pier-glass, it is fitted with decorative golden handles for ease of movement. With its herm-tapered legs being inlaid with triumphal-arched tablets and further enriched with golden Roman foliage in ormolu, it relates to a small pier-table that has been dated to the mid-1770s (the latter, formerly in the possession of Messrs. Phillips of Hitchin, is illustrated in C. Musgrave's Adam and Hepplewhite Furniture, London, 1966, fig. 165).
The cylinder-bureau displays a sacred-urn medallion together with floral marquetry that has been associated with the court cabinet-maker John Cobb (d. 1778) of St. Martin's Lane (see related bureau-dressing-table illustrated L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, p.96, fig. 92). Furthermore, the side handles are a particular model favored by Vile and Cobb and can be found on a number of pieces atttributed to the cabinet-makers, including a pair of commodes from Ashburnham Place and sold Christie's, London, 14 June 2001, lot 140 (£421,750 including premium).
This attractive cylinder-bureau also relates to models executed by the workshops of Mayhew and Ince. Lucy Wood presents the possibility that Vile and Cobb in the Blickling commission of 1762 and the Burghley commission of approximately the same date, may have subcontracted another firm such as Mayhew and Ince. (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 43-53). This is further reinforced by the use of yew wood which is very characteristic of the work of Mayhew and Ince.