Escritoire
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1710
Materials
Walnut, softwood, oak, brass, baize
Measurements
165 x 43.75 x 19 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Shaw's Corner, Hertfordshire
NT 1274791
Summary
A walnut-veneered escritoire, or scriptor, English, early 18th century. The upper stage beneath a pulvinated frieze drawer, and the base of two long drawers beneath two short drawers, on bracket feet. The hinged front encloses eight square pigeon holes above three drawers each side of a door and a drawer, and beneath them two more drawers. The door encloses three drawers. Drop front inset with a green baize panel which itself ratchets up to make a lectern. All drawers in upper stage with brass ring handles, curved brass handles to lower drawers.
Full description
George Bernard Shaw would often sit and write at this Queen Anne bureau, especially after his wife, Charlotte’s, death. When James Lees-Milne came to assess Shaw’s Corner on behalf of the National Trust as a potential property to add to their portfolio in 1944, he was rather dismissive of the contents and furnishings, however he admired the eighteenth-century pieces, commenting in his diary that there was one 'rather good veneered Queen Anne bureau (for which G.B.S. said he had given £80”) in the drawing room; and “another Queen Anne bureau” in the study. (James Lees-Milne, 9 February 1944, in Diaries, 1942-1954, pp.134-35). Shaw was frequently photographed by the press at Shaw’s Corner during the 1940s, especially around the time of his 90th birthday, and he often posed seated at this bureau in the act of writing surrounded by his sculpture. (Alice McEwan, 2020)
Provenance
The bureau was purchased by Bernard and Charlotte Shaw during the 1920s. The Shaw Collection. The house and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust by George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) in 1950, together with Shaw's photographic archive.