Bureau bookcase
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1710
Materials
Walnut, oak, softwood, brass, baize
Measurements
210.8 x 99.1 x 58.4 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Shaw's Corner, Hertfordshire
NT 1274810
Summary
A walnut-veneered double-domed bureau bookcase, English, early 18th century. The cabinet topped my a moulded and double-domed cornice, and two arch-panelled doors enclosing pigeonholes, shelves and three drawers. The bureau base with hinged fall enclosing pigeonholes and drawers, and lined with green baize. The base with two short and two graduated long drawers, fitted with brass escutcheons, backplates and bale handles.
Full description
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, 134-35). Bernard Shaw used this bureau bookcase to store his files and papers.
Provenance
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.