Featured Secretaire/Desk XIX century?

A big welcome.

It is indeed a beautiful piece of furniture and, as Komokwa said, it is a "storage" piece.

It could be in a bedroom area as well as in a "public" (sitting/living) area. The only two places I wouldn't put it would be in a kitchen area (if you do much cooking) or in a bathroom (a definite no-no).

I'm hoping that you'll find a way to keep it and use it to enjoy both its beauty and utility/storage value.

 

FWIW, I agree with Brad about the stretchers. William and Mary style furniture can have low stretchers, but I haven't ever seen them this low to where they are just about touching the floor. Those legs with big bulbous turnings look awkward to have the stretchers so very low. Here's an edited cropped enlarged pic of the leg area.

--- Susan

 

Yeah, I think there were originally some buns (feet) that have been cut off.

 

Just noticed Davey's posting about Arts & Crafts. Look what I found. It has drop handles similar to this one. I can't see the design on the handles of the OP's/Wie.../Original Poster to see how similar the handles are.

http://www.sellingantiques.co.uk/292649/arts-and-crafts-oak-secretaire/

--- Susan

 

so maybe mine had balls under the feet too.....hummmmmmmm...

 

Would not call this arts and crafts. The one in the link is only slightly more so with those barley twist legs and somewhat arts and crafts leaded glass. Here are more proper English arts and crafts secretaries that would be a bit earlier than the Op's.

 

The hardware, construction and the applied cabachon on the crown are definitely early 20th century. The low stretchers are a nod to the 15th and early 16th century when this was the common form of construction. A general rule of thumb is- as the stretchers move up, the newer the piece. But in this case I think it is indeed an attempt by the Arts and Crafts movement to emulate the design elements of an earlier time when hand craftsmanship was the only option.
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O79042/armchair-unknown/

 

Hi Susan,
Snagged a pic of the drop handles just for edification and they don't bear any resemblance to Wieeesniack's very nice Secretary desk: Sue

 

Considering these things were factory made in large numbers the most Arts and Crafts thing about them is a slight nod to A/C style, which is pretty fanciful, as the flovour of the month when this was made was Jacobean Revival.

 

very nice and practical highboy secretary. could be late victorian IMO.

 

I rescued one that was about to be tossed into a bin and it's not as nice as yours. Fabulous! Maybe not getting much money these days, but for those of us with an excess of glass & china, a real find!

 

This is my rescue

 

Brown firewood.(sigh)

 

I've always called this style a secretary or secretaire desk. If it doesn't have the bookcase on top, then I've always called it a bureau or a drop/fall-front desk.

I agree with one thing though - they are great for storage.

 

Let's back up a little....

Well Mansons says buns under the feet....& Lady questions the low stretchers....

This came out of England......& I gotta wonder why or if dealers were cutting off the buns...........or were they ?

Look here.......

Thoughts ???

 

The feet get damaged from being stored in damp basements, garages, and the like. They, subsequently, get cut off. Have seen it over and over. I was able to find a few others low to the floor like this but most do have feet. Whether they all have been cut off or some were made like this, I really don't know. Since these are revival pieces that somewhat emulate old furniture, it is entirely possible that some were made without feet to emulate old examples that were originally cut off at some point. This last is just conjecture but I see no logical reason to have the stretchers resting on or near the floor where they would be subject to the most damage.

 

point taken........good thing , there's no room in my garage for this puppy anyways..!