Bureau on stand
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1740
Materials
Padouk, paktong
Measurements
110 x 70.5 x 54.5 cm
Place of origin
Jingdezhen
Order this imageCollection
Melford Hall, Suffolk
NT 926528
Summary
A padouk and paktong bureau on stand, Chinese, but made for the export market, mid-18th century. Made with show dovetails. The bureau with edge mouldings to the top and angles, and with a hinged fall enclosing drawers and pigeonholes around a central cupboard door. A pair of lopers and a long drawer below. The sides and the drawer fitted with handles and shaped backplates of paktong. The back of the bureau polished and designed to be seen. The stand with moulded rails and a flared and shaped apron carved in low relief with a running design of foliage and flowers which extends onto the four cabriole legs. The pad feet carved with flowers. Paktong is a copper alloy with nickel and zinc and was much-used in China. The name 'Paktong', which literally means 'white copper', is the English term for the metal.
Provenance
Part of the Hyde Parker Collection, and by descent to Sir Richard Hyde Parker, 12th Baronet (b. 1937). Melford Hall and part of the collection were Accepted in Lieu and transferred by the Treasury to the National Trust in 1960.