Proposed Furniture Program

Periodically, a handwritten list of pieces of furniture that we “need” mysteriously appears in a prominent place in the home with a few of the items heavily underlined, indicating some degree of urgency. Occasionally an item will pique my interest and I set about making it, however, the list is evidently endless and it could take me some years to wade through just the items that hone my edge.

In the essence of connubial accord though, I thought I would commit to a few of the items on the list (which I will update as the notion takes me) and so, in no particular order:

* A mid eighteenth-century Virginia Walnut chest of drawers.

George II walnut chest of drawers, c.1755. (Christie’s)

* A late seventeenth-century William and Mary faux tortoiseshell and (later) japanned chest of drawers.

William and Mary simulated tortoiseshell chest of drawers, c.1695. (Christie’s)

* A late eighteenth-century mahogany kneehole desk with leather writing surface. (Completed)

A George III mahogany kneehole desk, c.1770. (Christie’s)

* A George III mahogany cabinet-on-chest, with dentil and fluted cornice. (Completed)

Chippendale mahogany cabinet-on-chest, c. 1775. (Christie’s)

* A small wooden box or caddy in which to secrete daily medications… and chocolate! (Completed)

* A late eighteenth-century mahogany canterbury with turned spindles (I’m not yet one hundred per cent sold on the turned spindles), on square tapered legs and square socket castors.

A George III mahogany canterbury, c. 1790. (Mallett)

* A walnut (or elm) mural corner cupboard with cross-veneered, arched fielded door. (Completed)

George II walnut mural corner cupboard, c. 1730. (Wakelin & Linfield)

* A George II burr elm bombé commode standing on short cabriole legs.

A George II burr elm bombé commode, c.1740. (Sotheby’s)

* A mahogany mural corner cupboard with rectangular fielded door and blind fretwork canted sides.

George III mahogany mural corner cupboard, c. 1760. (Thomas Coulborn & Sons)

* A number of George III turned drupaceous fruitwood coasters in drinking glass and decanter sizes.

A nicely patinated George III turned fruitwood coaster.

* A circa 1730 George II tripod table. This one is an unusually early mahogany example, walnut being the norm for this style and period. A mixture of walnut and yew is another possibility as evidence to hand supports the use of these woods for a virtually identical table.

George II mahogany tripod table, c. 1730. (M. Ford Creech)

* A circa 1690 William and Mary walnut chest-on-stand (subject to acquiring walnut of sufficient dimensions for the turned legs).

William and Mary walnut chest-on-stand, c.1690. (Richard Gardner Antiques)

* A circa 1690 William and Mary ‘laburnum’ (actually olive) oyster chest of drawers.

William and Mary olive oyster chest of drawers, c.1690. (Richard Gardner Antiques)

* A circa 1695 William and Mary walnut crossbanded chest of drawers. (Completed)

William and Mary walnut chest of drawers, c.1695. (M. Ford Creech)

* A circa 1760 George III set of eight Irish ladderback dining chairs (the original set of eight mahogany chairs supplied to the fifth Earl of Antrim for Glenarm Castle, County Antrim, Northern Ireland).

Irish mahogany pierced ladderback chair, c. 1760. (James Fennell)

* A circa 1790 George III mahogany break-front bookcase. (Image to follow)

* A circa 1700 Queen Anne Virginia walnut or fruitwood dining table. (Image to follow)

* A circa 1735 George II walnut fretted and cushion-moulded mirror of unusually small proportions. (Completed)

Unusually small George II walnut mirror, c. 1735.

* A circa 1740 George II Irish solid elm dressing table, with cabriole legs (from sketches I made of the original – purportedly from Powerscourt House, County Wicklow). (Completed)

* A pair of circa 1745 George II walnut girandoles with brass candle branches. (Completed)

George II walnut girandole, c. 1745.

* A circa 1750 George II walnut ladderback chair in the manner of Giles Grendy, with close-nailed leather stuff-over seat.

George II walnut ladderback chair, c.1750.

* A circa 1720 George I walnut side table, the top with re-entrant corners, over one long and two short drawers, standing on cabriole legs. (Completed)

George I walnut side table, c.1720. (Christie’s)

* Circa 1765 Chinese Chippendale mahogany open fret hanging wall shelves with two drawers. (Completed)

Hanging wall shelves. (Chippendale’s Director, Plate CXII, c. 1754)

* A circa 1755 George II mahogany reader’s companion, having shaped sides and back supporting a single shelf, the sides with carrying hand holes and drawers over a plain convex apron and standing on four cabriole legs. (Completed)

George II mahogany readers companion, c.1755.

* A circa 1690 William and Mary yew stool with stuff-over seat, on columnar turned legs connected by moulded stretchers. (Completed)

William and Mary upholstered yew stool, c. 1690. (Jayne Thompson)