Patrick Sandberg Antiques has dated this Regency Mahogany Secretaire Bookcase to the Regency era.
Further information: The tragedy and comedy masks, represented on the top of the bookcase, are possibly designed by Thomas Hope. Hope represented a series of comic and tragic masks in his book "Household Furniture" (pl. XXXVII), which derived from his drawings that he made during his Grand Tour between 1787 and 1795, probably in Greece or Italy. He included some of these masks in different designs in "Household Furniture" including the Blue John vases (pl. XIII, no.3, cat. no. 70), on cabinets and on the ends of several tables (pl. XX, no. 2-3; pl. XI, nos. 1-2). The bronzes on his own designed furniture pieces were executed by a French metalworker Alexis Decaix, who at the height of his career opened a shop in Old Bond Street, where he was selling bronze and ormolu objects. The lion's paw supports are also a distinctive trait of Hope's designs. In 1795, during the Grand Tour, Thomas Hope visited Rome for the first time. During his stay he admired an ancient bath made of rosso antico, known as the Tomb of Agrippa, placed in the portico of the Pantheon, with lion's paw endings. However, Hope's most significant source is most likely to have been Charles Heathcote Tatham's "Etchings… of Ancient Ornamental Architecture", in which he illustrated the aforementioned ancient bath (pl. 95). A similar design to our Bookcase could also be found in Hope's book "Household Furniture" (pl. 11 no. 2), represented as front and end of a large library or writing table
Patrick Sandberg Antiques has dated this Regency Mahogany Secretaire Bookcase to the Regency era.
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Regency period mahogany secretaire Bookcase in the manner of Thomas Hope
