Régence style Kingwood desk retailed by Edwards & Roberts
Retailed by Edwards & Roberts (British, founded 1845)
£18,000
This elegant desk, adorned with marquetry inlay and deftly finished ormolu mounts, is a superb example of the Régence style of early eighteenth-century France.
This exceptional desk is in the manner of the French furniture maker Charles Cressent, who lived between 1685 and 1768 and worked in the Régence style. The Régence style prevailed in France from 1715 to 1723, during the regency of Philippe d’Orléans and the minority of Louis XV.
The desk is crafted from kingwood and is adorned all over with geometrical chessboard marquetry and finely cast and chased ormolu mounts. The desk features a flat plateau encompassed by an ormolu frame, which is set above a shaped apron supported by four cabriole legs. The front of the apron is inset with three frieze drawers, each adorned with theatrical bust and foliate ormolu mounts. The sides of the desk feature ormolu grotesque masks, while the shoulder of each leg is adorned with an ornate pierced ormolu mount that joins with an acanthus scroll sabot below.
One drawer is stamped ‘Edwards and Roberts’, indicating the English retailer, and one drawer features a metal label reading ‘LK7551’. One mount is stamped ‘AD’.
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Artist / Maker
Retailed by Edwards & Roberts (British, founded 1845)