A GEORGE III SATINWOOD, TULIPWOOD, AND MARQUETRY BREAKFRONT SECRETAIRE BOOKCASE
Lot 10

A GEORGE III SATINWOOD, TULIPWOOD, AND MARQUETRY BREAKFRONT SECRETAIRE BOOKCASE

POSSIBLY BY JOHN LINNELL, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Closed23 May 2013

Price Realised

GBP 20,000

More Information

How to sell

A GEORGE III SATINWOOD, TULIPWOOD, AND MARQUETRY BREAKFRONT SECRETAIRE BOOKCASE
POSSIBLY BY JOHN LINNELL, LATE 18TH CENTURY
Crossbanded overall, the dentil cornice above a freize inlaid with bellflowers and foliage above four glazed doors enclosing eight short and four long adjustable mahogany-edged shelves, the base centred by a foliate-scroll-inlaid secretaire drawer with fitted interior of mahogany-lined drawers and pigeon-holes and leather-lined writing surface, flanked on each side by two further drawers above doors with scalloped oval panels issuing foliage, enclosing two long and four short adjustable shelves, above a shaped apron and splayed feet, inscribed 'A25' to back of one side, initialled 'BD' under the middle section
103 in. (262 cm.) high; 84½ in. (205 cm.) wide; 19 in. (48.5 cm.) deep

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 10 November 1995, lot 80

Specialist note

The bookcase bears close comparison with both documented works by John Linnell, and others attributed to him.
In particular there are marked stylistic affinities with a breakfront clothes press commissioned by the 5th Earl of Carlisle for Castle Howard around 1780 and illustrated in Helena Hayward and Pat Kirkham, William and John Linnell, Eighteenth Century London Furniture Makers, London, 1980, vol. II, fig. 141. Similar circular drop handles feature on a pair of satinwood and marquetry pembroke tables produced for the Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle around 1770, another for the Duke of Argyll at Inverary Castle in 1779 - 80, and a satinwood and rosewood chest supplied by Linnell to Robert Child for Osterley Park, Middlesex, in 1779 (Hayward & Kirkham, op cit, vol. II, p. 56, fig. 117).