I have some rococo backplates from a late eighteenth-century mahogany chest of drawers. The backplates incorporate an unusual blend of Gothik/Chinese strapwork with coquillage and florid elements (fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Brass backplate, circa 1770.
While attached to the chest, the handles additionally consisted of a motley collection of common swan-neck bails and pommels of differing styles and antiquity.
The same backplate is illustrated in a 1770 Birmingham brassware catalogue along with a commensurate florid rococo bail with fenghuang head pivots (fig. 2).
Fig. 2. Pattern 814 rococo handle.
If anyone has one or more of these bails they’d be willing to part with, I would be happy to purchase it/them. Alternatively, if anyone would be kind enough to lend me a good clean example to copy, I would return the original unmarked and undamaged.
Jack Plane
Pegs and 'Tails 