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Petite, demonstrating masterful skill and attention to
detail, each element made with extraordinary craftsmanship.
The outer fall with a central mulberry panel bordered by
three wide bands, two of burr walnut and one of mulberry outlined with walnut
crossbanding. The flanks to the fall
also crossbanded in walnut.
The two short over two long principal drawers with figured mulberry
fronts and walnut crossbanded borders.
The concealed cushion drawer beneath the cornice is dressed with mulberry
veneers. Full wainscot oak linings,
original and beautifully made. Original
top, bottom and back boards and beautiful double ogee mouldings to the flared cornice,
waist and base.
The spectaulor and well fitted interior is fresh and vibrant–
all ten of the small drawers with fine wainscot oak linings, tiny dovetails and
each drawer front dressed with beautifully figured mulberry veneers,
crossbanded in walnut, and all with original flower head backplates with brass
drop handles.
Mulberry is a rarely seen veneer. It is not taken from a Mulberry bush or tree, it is a thickly
cut veneer (usually field maple or sycamore) stained and then washed in an acid
which has had copper or other metals and lampblack dissolved in it. This creates beautiful highlights and
contrasts in the wood to make it resemble tortoiseshell. The necessity within the British Isles
in the late 1600s and early 1700s to create a tortoiseshell appearance was
driven by work of the French cabinet maker Andre-Charles Boulle who used
polished tortoiseshell inlaid with brass scroll work to create ‘boulle work’. Such pieces selling for huge sums and being
highly favoured and collected by the British Royalty and aristocracy.
It
is believed that very few British cabinet makers knew how to create this
mulberry wood and that the staining process was hotly guarded. Prominent exponents were Coxed and Woster -
their mulberry-wood work usually inlaid with pewter stringing and mounts. Few mulberry wood pieces come to the market
and it is wonderful to see this beautiful wood on such an early English Scriptor.
The
fall lowers flat, firm and level on original brass stays and is inset with an
olive green thick leather skiver with gold tooled border.
The
inner door with original pierced brass hinges and original steel lock conceals
three further small drawers within, each with original handles, walnut veneered
over deal and with fine oak linings.
The
large lined pigeonhole below the door is
ample large enough for a laptop. With wireless technology, pieces like this are
regaining their popularity and place in the home as a beautiful and practical
working piece of antique furniture.
In very good original
condition throughout.Minor dings and marks and small restorations but overall the scriptor is
in showroom condition and all of the drawers are fully oak lined and open and
close smoothly. This has clearly always been much loved and cared for over
its 325 years of life.
A really rare and
beautiful example which will look stunning in a modern or traditional interior.
(One of the factors of quality which specialists look for in
early furniture of this great age is the balance of proportion/dimension. Measurements should ‘rhyme’ and if they do
then they tell a story in themselves.
Here I have given more detail than usual to show the perfect dimensions of
this piece were so well thought out and executed that the scriptor is even more
pleasing and ‘right’ to the eye)