Description
A fine Chippendale-period satinwood and marquetry desk.
English, George III-period. Ca 1770.
The considerable use of the best-quality mahogany in the carcass is typical of the very fine work of Thomas Chippendale.
It is rare today to find an eighteenth-century satinwood and marquetry-inlaid desk of this quality. Most offered on the market are 19th/ 20th century. Major, period satinwood pieces have become almost unobtainable.
The superbly-controlled and delicate marquetry inlays are reminiscent of the fine decoration on the famous Diana and Minerva Commode by Chippendale at Harewood House, ca 1773.
When supplied in 1770, the various exotic inlay woods would have been stained in bright colours, now rather wonderfully soft after some 255 years or so of exposure.
In superb condition throughout.
Literature:
— The Diana and Minerva Commode, 1773, at Harewood House.
