Exquisite Queen Anne Mulberry Bureau c. 1710

An extremely rare and beautifully proportioned Queen Anne bureau dressed in 'mulberry-wood' veneers of particularly good colour and with a fine original fitted interior, again in mulberry wood. Flanking the central door are two wide and two narrow drawers with original slender oak linings, small dovetailed joints and featherbanded borders. Shaped dividers to the pigeon holes above and two secret drawers which have been beautifully made and are extremely well disguised on a spring release inside the outer drawer lining. The lock to the fall is original. Other hardware is later but is 18th century with attractively soft wear and has been on the bureau for a very long time. All set on walnut bun feet with a lovely colour.

Hinges appear original and are in original position. The inner well has its original sliding cover and is oak lined. The fall lowers smoothly and rests on original oak lopers, with an olive green thick leather with gold tooled border. The large graduated drawers retain their original full oak linings and are in good strong and robust condition. These open and close smoothly. Original carcase and original backboards with two slender horizontal braces added.

Mulberry wood is not taken from a Mulberry bush or tree, it is a veneer (usually field maple) stained and then washed in acid with copper and other metals dissolved in it, to create beautiful highlights and contrasts in the wood resembling tortoishell. It was the British cabinet makers' answer to French Boulework - natural tortoiseshell inlaid with brass stringing which became so fashionable in the late 17th and early 18th century. It is believed that very few British cabinet makers used mulberry wood and that the staining process was hotly guarded. Prominent exponents were Coxead and Woster - their mulberry-wood work usually seen with pewter stringing and mounts.

Very few mulberry pieces come to the market. This is a lovely quality small bureau with minor replacements and considerable charm.