Y A GEORGE III KINGWOOD, AMARANTH, TULIPWOOD PARQUETRY AND LACQUERED GILT BRONZE MOUNTED BUREAU PLAT PROBABLY BY AN EMIGRE CRAFTSMAN IN THE MANNER OF PHILIPPE-CLAUDE MONTIGNY AND RENE DUBOIS, LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY The gilt-brass banded rectangular top inset with a gilt-tooled blue leather writing surface, above a panelled frieze inlaid with Greek-key motif with two frieze drawers centred by masks headed by acanthus flanked by rosettes and opposing false drawers, with lateral writing slides, the lower border with a ribbon-twist mount, the brass reeded incut square tapering legs headed by laurel swags with square sabots terminating in castors, with a paper label to the pine panelling to underside inscribed in ink 'Brynkinalt RM' 72.5cm high, 122cm wide, 63cm deep Provenance: Possibly supplied to Arthur Hill-Trevor, 2nd Viscount Dungannon (1763-1837) or acquired by Arthur Hill-Trevor, 3rd Viscount Dungannon (1798 - 1862) for 3 Grafton Street, London, thence by descent at Brynkinalt Hall, Denbighshire until sold, Of Royal And Noble Descent; Sotheby's, London, 19 January 2017, lot 382, where acquired by present owner. Although this sophisticated desk, with its 'Etruscan' decoration and interlaced key frieze, has the outward appearance of a French bureau à la grec, a number of constructional idiosyncrasies help to identify it as an unusual example of English craftsmanship. Until recently the bureau plat formed part of the resplendent Hill-Trevor collections at Brynkinalt Hall in Denbighshire and is most likely the output of an émigré ébéniste working in London in the last quarter of the 18th century. London had long tradition of attracting émigré craftsman with the perpetual cycle of European political and religious turbulence of the 17th and 18th centuries spurring their arrival. The lure of the capital reached new heights following the favourable conclusion of The Seven Years' War (1756-1763), a pan-European conflict which did little to dampen the appetite for French fashions in Britain. The maker of the present bureau plat would certainly have had excellent knowledge of French workshop practices and prototypes, namely the output of the celebrated Parisian cabinet-makers Phillippe-Claude Montigny (1734-1800) and René Dubois (1737-1799). The goût grec style swept to popularity in France from the mid-1750s with the celebrated suite of furniture supplied for the collector and financier Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully. Veneered in kingwood, amaranth and tulipwood and decorated with rosette and laurel swag mounts, the Brynkinalt bureau plat closely follows a well-documented group of bureau à la grec by Montigny and Dubois. However, the Brynkinalt bureau plat diverges in several distinct ways which preclude the possibility of a French origin. Whereas French-made bureau plat use oak, the present desk employs pine in the construction. Further, the oak-lined drawers have front-to-back oak drawer bottoms, where French antecedents would have the grain running side-to-side. The dovetails, with the pronounced fan-shaped tails, are distinctly un-French and quite idiosyncratic being covered by a very thin veneer. The original locks are English, and the lacquered-gilt-brass banding to top, mounts, capping and castors (French models typically employ sabots without castors) all present as English derivatives or casts taken the originals. The presence of a distinctly English 'rococo' influenced ring-pulls to the writing slides further anglicises the French character of the present lot. Interestingly, an almost identical version of this model, sharing the same constructional traits but lacking brass reeding to the legs, is preserved in the collections of the Marquesses of Bute at Mount Stuart, Scotland. The Bute bureau plat is almost certainly from the same émigré workshop and points to a definitive group made for the most prominent families of the day. The present desk formed part of the collections of the Hill-Trevors at Brynkinalt Hall, Denbighshire, on the English-Welsh borders. The family fortune was built at first by Sir John Trevor (1637-1717), an unscrupulous lawyer-turned-politician, who twice held the position of Speaker of House of Commons before being unseated because of a bribery scandal involving the East India Company. He also served as Master of the Rolls 1685 to 1689 and from 1693 until his death in 1717. The financial gains Sir Trevor accrued in these prominent positions allowed him to acquire two London houses on St Clements Lane and Trevor Square, Knightsbridge. All four of his sons predeceased him and his estates, including Brynkinalt, passed to his daughter Anne who married Michael Hill of Hillsborough in Ireland.Arthur Hill, 1st Viscount Trevor (1694-1771), later Arthur Hill-Trevor, 1st Viscount Dungannon, was the second son and also pursued a political career, this time in Ireland as Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer and Commissioner of Irish Revenues. Arthur built Belvoir house in Ireland to designs of Christopher Myers in circa 1750. His son, the Hon. Arthur Hill Trevor (1738-1770), predeceased him also, making him an unlikely candidate for the acquisition of the present bureau plat. Instead, the Dungannon estates, including Belvoir and Brynkinalt, passed to Arthur Hill-Trevor, 2nd Viscount Dungannon (1763-1837) who inherited the title at the age of eight. In 1795, at the age of thirty-two, he married the Hon Charlotte Fitzroy, daughter of General Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton (1737 -1797) and grand-daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton (1683-1757), and consequently sold Belvoir Park choosing to live between No. 3 Grafton Street, London (built by the Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735-1811) to designs of Robert Taylor in 1767) and Brynkinalt Hall. It is conceivable to bureau-plat was acquired before or during this phase of ownership as the Viscountess was a woman of highly cultivated taste and oversaw the significant re-modelling of Brynkinalt which had not been altered since the early 18th century. Condition Report: Overall there are some scratches, marks, chips, cracks and abrasions consistent with age and use.Observations include: the leather to the top has a different gilt tool edging and is either different to the leather on the sliding ends or is faded; the leather to the top also has cracks along the underlying constructions joints; some ormolu mounts are slightly loose eg the edging to to the top of the desk, one of the swags (with a later screw), some of the ribbon edging has vacant holes from missing pins, one brass inlay to one leg is sprung; it is not possible to remove the right frieze drawer as there is a fixed peg/screw preventing it from sliding out; there are two keys that operate the two different locks that suggest one is a later replacement; there is some evidence of old worm; some fading to the back.The Greek key parquetry and ormolu mounts to all sides.Please see all the additional condition report photographs through the link on the condition report email as a visual reference of condition - they are a vital part of this report. 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