British manufactory

Bureau-cabinet

Great Britain, Georgian style, second half of 18th century

mahogany, pine and oak

Cabinet: 115.5 x 96.2 x 22.5 cm Bureau: 103 x 99.5 x 47.3 cm

Inv. no. MW00153

BBVA Collection Spain


A piece of furniture made up of two separate bodies: a writing desk below and a cabinet above.

This Georgian style pine
with oak drawers divided by panels rests on four
feet. The original escutcheons and handles have since been replaced, and oval marks can still be observed beneath them. The foldable lid opens to reveal a tier of drawers in
, a door flanked by fluted pilasters and an upper compartmented shelf. The lower larger part has four drawers.

The cabinet, made at a later date, with a mixed straight and curved front, has half-arc blind doors which, when opened reveal a space divided in five tiers with compartments, drawers and doors.

The need to store important papers led to the demand for this type of furniture which was easy to transport and which could be locked. Initially, books and papers were stored in chests and boxes, and these containers gradually evolved towards a set of retractable drawers with handles that made them easy to move and whose folding lid could serve as a writing desk. These boxes or drawers were initially placed on tables or over stands built with that purpose in mind.

Later on, when writing desks were no longer designed to be transported, the feet or stands became a fixed element incorporated into the piece of furniture and different designs began to appear, ranging from those which use the lower part—which had previously been a simple table or legs—to those with closed doors or drawers with a space for the legs when seated with drawers or shelves on either side.