Desk
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1770
Materials
Oak, pine, deal, brass, leather
Measurements
105 x 178 x 130.5 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire
NT 959801
Summary
An oak double-sided desk, English, circa 1770, The top with a flat central plank above two sloping writing surfaces, all lined with later claret-coloured leather. Each side fitted with a drawer above a kneehole with plain spandrels and flanked to either side by a cupboard door with fielded panel. The door to the left-hand side fitted with a graduated set of pine drawers; the door to the right with a pine drawer above three upright folio divisions with ogee-shaped front edges, also of pine. The interior drawers fitted with brass ring handles. The sides each fitted beneath the pitch of the slope with an upper drawer with canted upper corners and interior divisions running front-to-back. The ends also with a carry handle with large shaped backplate. All raised on bracket feet.
Full description
The upright folio divisions inside this desk's pedestals are made in the same way as those fitted inside the mahogany counter [NT 960400], and can also be found in the more famous Nostell Priory library table [NT 959723], supplied by Chippendale in 1766. Unusually, the drawers are made and fronted with pine (or deal). (Megan Wheeler, February 2018)
Provenance
Possibly the 'oak double writing desk' recorded in 'Mr Taylor's Room' on the Ground Floor in 1806 and the 'oak double desk' recorded in the Office in 1818. Thence by descent, and purchased by the National Trust in 1990 from the Christie's 'Nostell Priory' sale.