A GEORGE IV MAHOGANY CHAMBER WRITING-TABLE

George Seddon, founder of one of the most prolific London cabinet-making firms of the 18th and 19th centuries, settled in Aldersgate Street in 1753. The firm passed through successive generations until Thomas Seddon II and George Seddon III became partners in 1817, when they commenced on a fairly regular basis to label their wares. Items bearing the Aldersgate Street address, including the present lot, are illustrated in C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700 - 1840, Leeds, 1996, pp. 408 - 415.

Joseph Sassoon Sykes assembled a remarkable collection under the guidance of the great furniture historian R.W.Symonds, who was instrumental in creating the exceptional collections of Percival Griffiths, Eric and Ralph Moller, and Samuel Messer. Sykes's collection was discussed in a series of articles published by Symonds including 'Eighteenth Century Mahogany Furniture, illustrated with examples from the collection of Mr J.S.Sykes', Apollo, August 1937, pp.68-73.