The rectangular top with a brass border and crossbanded frieze of foliage above two cedar-lined drawers on square tapering trestle ends headed by anthemion and joined by a flat stretcher on plinth bases and scrolling splayed foliate feet with acanthus brackets, one drawer inscribed to the underside 198 in white paint
29¹⁄₄ in. (75.6 cm.) high, 50¹⁄₄ in. (127.6 cm.) wide, 26 in. (66 cm.) deep

Lord Gerald Wellesley, The Duke of Wellington (d. 1972), possibly 11 Titchfield Street, London.
With Temple Williams, Ltd., London.
Acquired from Philip Duncan, Ltd., London, in 1969.

M. Jourdain and R. Fastnedge, Regency Furniture, 1795-1830, London, 1965, p. 77, fig. 179.

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Lot Essay

Lord Gerald Wellesley, The Duke of Wellington
The diplomat and architect Lord Gerald Wellesley, later 7th Duke of Wellington (1885 - 1972) formed a collection of then-called 'Empire' furniture in his London house on Titchfield Street. He was, along with the likes of Edward Knoblock and Sir Albert Richardson, responsible for a revival in popularity of the Regency during the inter-war years; all three owned pieces that were sold in 1917 from Thomas Hope’s house The Deepdene, and Wellesley wrote on the subject in 'Regency Furniture’, The Burlington Magazine, vol. 70, no. 410, May 1937, pp. 233 – 235 and 238 – 241. As an architect his most important schemes were at Hinton Ampner, where he was employed from 1936 – 39 by Ralph Dutton who also owned a fine collection of Regency furniture, and at his own seat Stratfield Saye, Hampshire, after he succeeded his nephew in 1943 (see Frances Collard, Regency Furniture, Woodbridge, 1985, pp. 267 - 273).