A fine late 18th Century George III Satinwood and sabicu ladies writing cabinet with important provenance. (Possibly by George Simpson)English London made - Circa 1785 Provenance Exhibited by W. R. Harvey in their Old Bond Street showrooms in 1986 and 1987, the piece being chosen to be advertised in Country Life magazine in 1986 and in the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair catalogue in 1987. A private European collection. This very elegantly drawn writing cabinet is constructed with the finest cuts of satinwood, banded with sabicu and strung with boxwood. The shaped and inlaid pediment with vase finials above a pair of glazed doors with patera-inlaid scrolled lower supporting brackets, over a pair of doors inlaid with oval mahogany panels enclosing pigeonholes, drawers and central lockable door. The lower section writing desk with in-curved front corners, with pull out writing drawer fitted with ratcheted reading slide, pen and crystal ink wells. The whole raised on slender tapering legs, headed with inlaid oval patera and strung with boxwood having collared feet.An exceptional quality piece in superb original condition and of wonderful colour.Dimensions Width 34 inches - 86cmHeight 73 inches - 185cmDepth 25 inches - 63.5cmMore research on this design and possibly maker below. The secretaire section of this piece is based on a plate in Chippendale''s Director depicting a �Lady''s Writing Table and Bookcase�. However the overall form has been softened in the Sheraton manner with slimmer tapering legs with collars rather than the block feet suggested by Chippendale. Additionally, the breakfront doors in Chippendale''s design have been substituted for a simpler pair of doors but with a much more elaborate series of pigeon holes in the middle section. The choice of the finest cuts of veneer and the beautifully-executed astragal glazing bars are further evidence of quality and the piece was clearly executed by one of the major workshops of the period. Although it is very difficult to make an attribution for such an unusual piece of furniture with no well-recorded comparatives in museum or stately home collections, it is possible that this piece might have been the work of George Simson, a cabinetmaker and upholder based in St Paul''s Churchyard in London. Simson is best known today for a series of fine secretaire cabinets made for Thomas Weeks and his museum in Tichborne Street. These Weeks cabinets survive in several museum collections including Temple Newsam in Leeds. In his Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Christopher Gilbert illustrated many pieces of furniture with Simson''s trade label. Illustrated below are two of these pieces which all bear some stylistic similarities to our writing table although, as stressed above, this attribution can only be tentative at this stage along with there being an unusual amount of labelled items by this George Simpson. So many ...