A REGENCY ORMOLU-MOUNTED BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD WRITING-TABLE

This elegant 'Grecian' writing-table, with its gilt-bead edged drawers, belongs to a group of closely related Regency tables linked by a number of common features, most notably the lyre support. These tables have been associated with the Regency cabinet-makers John and William McLean, who established 'Elegant Parisian Furniture Warerooms' in Marylebone Street and illustrated their work in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet Dictionary, 1803. Close variants of this model exist bearing the characteristic reeded ormolu panels, which appear on much of Mclean's documented work, such as the example from Leigh Court, Somerset (sold Christie's London, 6 April 2000, lot 30, £75,250 including premium). A closely related lyre-end table, which shares the distinctive stepped beaded feet seen here, is illustrated by R.W. Symonds (Furniture Making in 17th and 18th Century England, London, 1955, p. 133, fig. 187). A further related example was photographed in situ by Country Life at Londonderry House, Park Lane, circa 1937, and a further related table was sold at Christie's London, 9 July 1998, lot 130 (£45,500 including premium).