Dimensions
28.75 inches high when closed and 27.5 inches high when the folding leaves are open.
30 inches deep. 20 inches wide when leaves are closed and 40 inches wide when leaves are open.
From floor to lowest edge of drawer and apron is 21.5 inches.
Full Description
Anyone who has a real passion for antique furniture will know that there are times when you come across a piece so rare and so extraordinary that it blows your mind.
This unique and incredibly rare George III period mahogany campaign desk is extraordinary in many ways.
The quality of the mahogany timber is fantastic, with such a beautiful colour and grain and the quality of the brass fittings is also exceptional.
This was clearly made for a very senior officer on the battlefield.
The design is compact and practical and yet there are refined and high quality features along with a full oak Gillows compartmentalised interior with a secret side drawer.
There are four candle slides which have a dual function. They allow lights to be set close to the surface for reading but also support the fold out leaves when open so that the desk can be extended to look at large scale maps and plans.
There are two fully fitted drawers, entirely original, with oak lidded compartments – the lids with tiny brass ring handles. In both drawers there are some ink stains – I like them – they show that the lid of the ink bottle was not always screwed on fully and perhaps in the height of battle the table legs were unscrewed and the top hastily folded up and then secured on the back of a cart or horse or sent with runners to a new battleground position. It demonstrates that despite its great quality and beauty, this was a fully functional piece of furniture and was carefully used and well looked after.
Detachable legs are rare and here the brass screw in cappings are beaded and finely engraved and the table retains its substantial and original brass casters also. The secret side drawer, brass cappings and casters can be seen in Susan Stuart’s ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840’ in Volume II page 331 plate b. for example of the secret drawer and Volume I page 249, plate 247 for an very similar brass screw fitting on a table leg by Gillows made in c. 1800.
It is a testament to the cabinet maker that the whole desk survives in such excellent original condition and that the original brass screw fittings on the legs were so well turned that when attached to the table they are completely firm - as though the legs could never detach – and the table is sturdy, stable and completely usable.
This is an important and museum quality example of a very fine campaign desk attributable to Gillows, which is considered one of the finest English cabinet makers of the 18th century.
Absolutely fabulous and a genuinely unique and fine piece of Georgian campaign period furniture.
