This is a beautiful antique George II flame mahogany and floral marquetry secretaire chest of drawers, circa 1760 in date.
The chest is fitted with brass handles, the drawer bears the impressed stamp of the 18th-century renowned cabinet maker, ''R. Andrews''. The top drawer includes a secretaire with drawers, a cupboard, pigeonholes in mahogany and satinwood, and an inset gold tooled green leather writing surface.
The chest has a secretaire drawer over a pair of half-width drawers, over two capacious full-width drawers that all feature beautiful inlaid floral marquetry decoration of various specimen woods.
The chest is raised on a sturdy plynth base and is complete with working locks and an original key.
This delicious piece of craftsmanship could serve any purpose, from the focal point of an antiques collection to a remarkable addition to any room in your home.
Condition:
In excellent condition, having been beautifully restored in our workshops, please see phot
...os for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 99 cm x Width 95 cm x Depth 54.5 cm
Dimensions in inches:
Height 3 foot, 3 inches x Width 3 feet, 1 inch x Depth 1 foot, 9 inches
R. Andrews
was an English regional cabinetmaker in the second half of the 18th Century.
Period documents and the Furniture History Society''s BIFMO Database reference an independent joiner and cabinetmaker named Andrews operating in the late 18th century. The ''R. Andrews'' Estate & Clocks: 18th-century records feature an estate belonging to an ''R. Andrews Esq.''
Marquetry
is decorative artistry where pieces of material of different colours are inserted into the surface of wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers.
The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th-century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian ''Cosmati''-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the ''hardstones'' used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique.
Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs.
Flame Mahogany
Thomas Sheraton - 18th century furniture designer, once characterized mahogany as ''best suited to furniture where strength is demanded as well as a wood that works up easily, has a beautiful figure and polishes so well that it is an ornament to any room in which it may be placed.'' Matching his words to his work, Sheraton designed much mahogany furniture. The qualities that impressed Sheraton are particularly evident in a distinctive pattern of wood called ''flame mahogany.''
The flame figure in the wood is revealed by slicing through the face of the branch at the point where it joins another element of the tree.
Our reference: A5227
Internal Reference: A5227
Antique ID Number (AIDN): SA1220783
Dateline of this antique is 1750
Height is 99cm (39.0inches)Width is 95cm (37.4inches)Depth is 54.5cm (21.5inches)
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