SECOND QUARTER 19TH CENTURY

This elegantly serpentined desk is in the Louis XV style, which enjoyed a revival in the 1830s and 40s. This fashion was promoted by Edward Holmes Baldock (d. 1845), the celebrated dealer and retailer or marchand mercier, of Hanway Street, who traded in 'Foreign China [&] Furniture' from 1805. A similarly marquetry-inlaid bureau plat incorporating mother-of-pearl, with Baldock's brand 'E.H.B.', was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 9 July 1998, lot 136. Another similar writing-table from Lowther Castle and probably supplied by Baldock was later sold Christie's, London, 14 May 1987, lot 386. Baldock's significant commission for the Duke of Buccleuch at Dalkeith Palace, Bowhill and Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland in 1840-41 included two comparable bureaux plats - one marquetry-inlaid and another lacking marquetry but comparing in its sinous form and mounts to the offered lot (see G. de Bellaigue, 'Edward Holmes Baldock - Part II', The Connoisseur, September 1985, pp. 24-25, figs. 14-15) - as well as a center table now at Temple Newsam House, Leeds with similar marquetry (see C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, 1978, vol. II, no. 395).