246 - Y A FINE WILLIAM IV ROSEWOOD AND BRASS MARQUETRY WRITING TABLEATTRIBUTED TO TOWN & EMMANUEL, CIRCA 183083cm high, 123cm wide, 67.5cm deepProvenance:Christie’s London, 29th November 1984, lot 75Sotheby's New York, 8th June 1985, lot 320Sotheby's New York, 7th April 1990, lot 213Christie's New York, Important English Furniture and Objects of Art (8988), 16th October 1998, lot 37 ($27,600 incl. BP)Sotheby's New York, Ariane Dandois: European Furniture, Paintings & Asian Art, 25th October 2007, lot 151 ($58,000 incl. BP).Illustrated:G. Beard and J. Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840, p.275 fig.3.This desk exemplifies the aristocratic taste for French designs of the ancien regime and the revival of 'buhl' patterns based on prototypes by royal ebeniste Andre-Charles Boulle and the designs of Jean Berain. The desk is attributed to the London firm of Town & Emanuel, dealers, manufacturers and restorers working at 103 New Bond Street from 1830 until the sale of their stock in 1849. Their printed trade label advertised the firm as 'Manufactureres of Buhl Marqueterie, Riesner & Carved Furniture, Tripods, Screens &. of the Finest & Most Superb Designs of the Times of Louis 14th...' (reproduced in F.Collard, 'Town & Emanuel', Furniture History, 1996, p.82, fig.1). The inlaid design of the top relates closely to that on a writing-table at Hinton Ampner, Hants (see C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p.451, figs.905-906). Another virtually identical writing-table was probably supplied to the 2nd Marquess of Exeter for Burghley House (illustrated in F.Collard, op.cit., p.85, fig.5). Other cabinetmakers inspired by Boulle prototypes include Thomas Parker of Air Street and Louis Le Gaigneur of Edgware Road, both of whom supplied furniture to George IV.A French prototype of this basic form and decoration in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London is illustrated in C. Parker, Paris Furniture by the Master Ebenistes, Newport, England, 1956, fig.2.

Y A FINE WILLIAM IV ROSEWOOD AND BRASS MARQUETRY WRITING TABLEATTRIBUTED TO TOWN & EMMANUEL, CIRCA 183083cm high, 123cm wide, 67.5cm deepProvenance:Christie’s London, 29th November 1984, lot 75Sotheby's New York, 8th June 1985, lot 320Sotheby's New York, 7th April 1990, lot 213Christie's New York, Important English Furniture and Objects of Art (8988), 16th October 1998, lot 37 ($27,600 incl. BP)Sotheby's New York, Ariane Dandois: European Furniture, Paintings & Asian Art, 25th October 2007, lot 151 ($58,000 incl. BP).Illustrated:G. Beard and J. Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840, p.275 fig.3.This desk exemplifies the aristocratic taste for French designs of the ancien regime and the revival of 'buhl' patterns based on prototypes by royal ebeniste Andre-Charles Boulle and the designs of Jean Berain. The desk is attributed to the London firm of Town & Emanuel, dealers, manufacturers and restorers working at 103 New Bond Street from 1830 until the sale of their stock in 1849. Their printed trade label advertised the firm as 'Manufactureres of Buhl Marqueterie, Riesner & Carved Furniture, Tripods, Screens &. of the Finest & Most Superb Designs of the Times of Louis 14th...' (reproduced in F.Collard, 'Town & Emanuel', Furniture History, 1996, p.82, fig.1). The inlaid design of the top relates closely to that on a writing-table at Hinton Ampner, Hants (see C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p.451, figs.905-906). Another virtually identical writing-table was probably supplied to the 2nd Marquess of Exeter for Burghley House (illustrated in F.Collard, op.cit., p.85, fig.5). Other cabinetmakers inspired by Boulle prototypes include Thomas Parker of Air Street and Louis Le Gaigneur of Edgware Road, both of whom supplied furniture to George IV.A French prototype of this basic form and decoration in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London is illustrated in C. Parker, Paris Furniture by the Master Ebenistes, Newport, England, 1956, fig.2. ϒ Indicates that this lot may be subject to CITES regulations when exported. The import of lots that are subject to CITES regulations are banned in certain countries. Please check your country's import regulations before bidding. For further details on CITES regulations www.gov.uk/guidance/cites-imports-and-exports.