Bureau Identification

Hello,
A number of months ago I purchased a piece of furniture blindly from an online auction. The piece was listed as, "A Regency Mahogany Fall Front Bureau".
I won the auction and the item was delivered from England to my home in Northern Ireland.
Upon inspection I noticed a number of things;
Firstly, the bureau was in fact pine, with only the front veneered with mahogany. The side panels were pine.
Secondly, the handles on the drawer fronts were not original, as large holes were apparent on the inside of the drawers where older/other hardware had been present.
The veneer itself varies in thickness, ranging between 1.5mm to nearly 4mm in places. Furthermore the veneer has bowed and warped in places, seemingly pulling greatly on the pine frame, effecting the dovetails in the drawer fronts greatly.
The practice and science of veneering seems to improve greatly from 1750 onwards, so could this be an earlier piece or something merely of lesser quality?
Is this possibly a piece of "duty furniture" made sometime before 1721?
Or is this made using un taxed mahogany post 1721?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm not very well-informed on furniture, but I think in the US we'd call the item a "secretary."

Your questions are so specific I'm wondering if anyone here has answers,,,,,,

Do you have any more general guestions that would be easier for beginning a dialogue?

 

I really have no expertise in early English furniture but do know a bit about wood and furniture construction in general. I am surprised to find that the sides are pine. I would expect a fine piece of furniture to be veneered on the sides. This leads me to believe that the veneer has been stripped from the sides but maybe this construction is more typical than I would think. As for the bowing of the drawer fronts, with only one side veneered, the moisture in the wood departs from the wood unequally and creates the bowing we see here. There are ways to prevent this from happening but maybe that is something for later generations of furniture than this. The only other observation I have is that this piece has obviously been refinished and the feet with bottom moldings are likely replacements.

 

still, it's a nice enough item.......use it well !

 

Bureau of Investigation

 

I've always called these bureaus, drop-front or fall-front desks, or slant-top desks.

A 'secretary' is like a fallfront desk, but it's got a bookcase stacked on top. That's how I always told them apart.

The bureau is one of the few vintage desk-styles to survive into the modern era. IKEA still sells them.

 

Hi,
I have always called them slant top desks/bureaus . I agree a secretary has a book case on top.
greg

 

Here's Britannica def, although somehow the pic isn't the correct one. Their def doesn't mention a bookcase. If Britannica isn't good enough then suggest another standard source of official definitions we can use in cases of differing opinions.

http://www.britannica.com/topic/secretary-furniture

 

Hi Spring,
You used the BRITANNICA that is fine for Great Briton we in the States speak a different English. Like parkway as a driving area and driveway as a parking area.
greg

 

Thanks Greg. Read my last sentence again if you wouldn't mind. If You don't like Britannica then find another generally-accepted encyclopedia and tell us about it. You can pull definitions from where Mr. Sun shineth not, all day long, and they won't be as credible as one reflecting the consensus of experts found in a reputable encyclopedia.

But I hope I'm not sounding too bureau-cratic!

 

Another source:
The Encyclopedia of Furniture - Page 64 - Google Books Result
https://books.google.com › books
Joseph Aronson - 1965 - ‎Antiques & Collectibles
[1033.] Sheraton defined the bureau as a "common desk with drawers," and this was the name given in England to the entire family of dcsltrnndidrawcr combina» tions known in America as “secretary."