Victorian Inlaid Rosewood Cylinder Top Desk by Jas Shoolbred

A fine quality late Victorian period inlaid rosewood cylinder top desk or bureau. Of very good construction in solid rosewood with attractive rosewood veneers and made by Jas Shoolbred and Co of London. With profuse inlaid decoration throughout. The cylinder top lifts up to reveal a fitted stationary compartment. The fall front flips down to reveal a leather writing surface complete with gilt tooled decoration. With a pair of drawers beneath fitted with their original stylish solid brass handles. All standing on square tapering legs, united by an under tier with a fretwork gallery, and terminating in original brass castors. This desk is finished to the rear so it could be free standing within a room if desired. Professionally refinished in our workshops and now offered for sale in excellent condition, ready to go straight into the home.

Dimensions:

Width 69cms

Depth 47cms

Height 88cms

Height of writing surface 71.5cms

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.