George Walton. Arts & Crafts Walnut Desk with Secret Drawers & Heart Escutcheons
£20,000 £16,000
George Walton. A rare and important Arts and Crafts walnut desk almost identical to the desk Walton designed in 1898 for Sidney Leetham for the morning room in Elm Bank, a major interior commission in York, England.
This desk is a complex hybrid design. The overhanging top features a central arched cupboard with twin heart escutcheon, flanked by hidden upstanding conforming drawers that lock when the cupboard doors are shut. Four drawers are found in the upper section, with dream ivorene plastic rectangular inlays and brass drop handles. The original leather writing area includes a secret pen compartment on the right-hand side. The central lower drawer has a shaped apron below and is flanked by deeper compartmental drawers with skirt-shaped brass escutcheon. The whole piece stands on slender tapering legs. To the back, there discreetly sits an ingenious secondary work station with a drop-down leather writing area with files. When the desk is positioned against the wall, it might become a place to hide treasured objects. Provenance: With The Fine Art Society in 1989.
Width: 52.5 in (133.35 cm)
Depth: 32 in (81.28 cm)
1890-1899
