LONDON – When online bidding closed for Chiswick Auctions’ April 7 sale titled Interiors, Homes & Antiques, the contest for this 3ft 2in (96cm) wide William and Mary marquetry-inlaid walnut bureau had reached £15,000 ($18,690). The estimate had been just £400-£500 ($500-$625), but with buyer’s premium, it ultimately sold for £19,200 ($23,920). Sale results can be viewed at LiveAuctioneers.
Although not cataloged as such, the highly intricate arabesque marquetry on this piece bears a close resemblance to the work of several leading London cabinet makers of the late 17th century. So-called ‘Seaweed’ marquetry of this type is illustrated and discussed in Adam Bowett’s 2002 book English Furniture 1660-1714, From Charles II to Queen Anne.
Potential candidates for its manufacture include Thomas Pistor (d. 1711) of The Cabinet, Ludgate Hill, England, or Gerrit Jensen (d. 1715), the Flemish or Dutch maker. Both became main exponents of French court style in England during the late 17th century. Jensen enjoyed royal patronage from the reign of Charles II to Queen Anne, during which time he supplied furnishings for St James’s Palace, Hampton Court, and Kensington Palace.
Chiswick’s desk, with later brass handles and replacement bracket feet (they would originally have been bun feet), was part of a consignment of furniture and antiques that had been left the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) in 1939 by Evelyn Stannus of Kensington, England. Many objects from the collection have been on loan to the British National Trust, and this item had been displayed at Montacute House in Somerset, England.
