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A fine late George III satinwood and snakewood secretaire cabinet

Creator: George Simons (Attributed)
Offered by: Wick Antiques LTD

Description
A fine late George III satinwood and snakewood secretaire cabinet, attributed to George Simson of London, of rectangular form, the upper section with a pair of glazed doors with fine gothic astragal glazing bars enclosing a single shelf, above a pull-out secretaire drawer fitted with three pigeonholes and a series of small drawers, all raised on four slender square tapering legs with a shaped undertier or platform stretcher echoing the kneehole arch above, decorated with contrasting panels of finely figured snakewood, purpleheart and ebonised stringing. English, circa 1790.

Footnote: George Simson (1757-1840) traded from a shop at No. 19 St Paul’s Churchyard, London. Surviving labelled pieces demonstrate that Simson made a very wide range of pieces from cutlery boxes to wardrobes and everything in between. His customers included the Grimston family (Gorhambury House in Hertfordshire) and the 2nd Viscount Palmerston, probably for furniture supplied to Broadlands House in Hampshire. It may well be that much of Simson’s business was conducted through middlemen and retailers which would make tracing commissions all the more difficult. What is beyond dispute is that the quality of Simson’s output was consistently high and this piece, with its particularly exotic veneers, is remarkable even in that context.

Our attribution rests on the similarity of these pieces to labelled pieces made by Simson and illustrated in Christopher Gilbert’s Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840 (1996), pp. 422-431. A very similar piece, lacking the undertier, was sold at Christie’s on the 18th of November 1993.

More Information

Origin:	England
Period:	18th Century
Materials:	satinwood and snakewood
Condition:	Good.
Creation Date:	Circa 1790
Styles / Movements:	Traditional, George III
Incollect Reference #:	701866

Dimensions

W.	31.75 in;	H.	66 in;	D.	18.5 in;
W.	80.65 cm;	H.	167.64 cm;	D.	46.99 cm;

Message from Seller:

Wick Antiques was established by Charles Wallrock in the early 1980s. Having grown up in the Antiques world Charles developed an extensive wealth of knowledge. Starting out as a ‘man with a van’ he quickly gained a good reputation and embarked on a longstanding relationship with Harrods. He was later joined by his wife, Caroline Wallrock. Caroline having completed a Persian degree, went on to study at Christie’s fine art and then joined Sotheby’s specializing in Islamic and Japanese works of art