Inlaid Mahogany Cylinder Bureau by Jas Shoolbred

A fine quality late 19th Century cylinder bureau by Jas Shoolbred of London. Very well constructed in solid mahogany with attractive flame mahogany veneers and decorated with inlaid satinwood stringing and banding throughout. The superstructure has an arrangement of 3 drawers and the top is surmounted by a galleried surround. The bureau itself opens to reveal a fitted interior with a leather writing surface, pigeon holes, a pen tray and stationary drawers. Beneath this is another collection of 3 drawers. All drawers are fitted with their original brass handles. Standing on elegant tapering legs which terminate in spade feet.This superior quality bureau is offered for sale in excellent condition. It has a great colour and patina and is ready to go straight into the home or office.

Dimensions:

Width 92cms

Depth 54cms

Height 111cms

James Shoolbred & Co

The name of James Shoolbred & Co is highly respected among admirers of Aesthetic Movement furniture. Their antique desks, Victorian dining chairs and antique marquetry furniture were produced for wealthy households up to 1931. A particularly fine example of James Shoolbred antique marquetry furniture – an ornate piano by designer Henry Batley – is on display at the V & A museum, London.

Established in the 1820s, James Shoolbred’s Tottenham Court Road company began life as a drapers. It began supplying textiles to the furniture trade, and expanded into the stores either side, branching into interior design. By the 1870s, the company was designing and manufacturing its own furniture.

A major factor of James Shoolbred’s success was their detailed catalogues, which were published from around 1873. Configured to showcase the company’s designs beyond the confines of London, they made Shoolbred an overnight success.

In the 1880s the firm moved to larger premises. Imaginatively laid out, with detailed room schemes showing off the company’s latest furniture and textile designs, it became an unmitigated success.

Although James Shoolbred & Co specialised in furniture of the Aesthetic Movement they encompassed all the fashionable trends of the time, from the motifs and patterns of Japanese design in their antique marquetry furniture, to Art Nouveau and gothic influences in their antique desks and Victorian dining chairs.