Writing table
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1840
Materials
Walnut, turtleshell, brass, ormolu and leather
Measurements
77 x 123.5 x 70.5 cm
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 608147
Summary
A brass-inlaid and turtleshell-veneered bureau plat, or writing table, English, circa 1840. The rectangular top lined with bottle green leather, with gilt-tooled border and gilt-tooled centerpiece. With gadrooned ormolu mounts to the top's edge and with cabochon mounts at the corners. One short frieze fitted with two drawers, the other frieze with two false drawers, with ormolu edge mouldings and large mask-cast central mounts. The cabriole legs mounted at the top with ormolu satyr masks and with foliate cast sabots. Decorated throughout with inlaid brass arabesques, scrolls, birds and foliage.
Provenance
Believed to be 3rd Lord Berwick collection: William Noel-Hill, 3rd Baron Berwick (1773 - 1842). Listed in the Inventory taken at Attingham Park in 1913 in the Gallery (p. 58); in the Probate Inventory taken in 1947 as an 'heirloom' (p. 9) and in the Inventory of 1953 (p. 25). Bequeathed with the estate, house and partial contents of Attingham Park by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) and transferred to the National Trust on 15th May 1953.