Harvey's Antiques

Description

No: 11237

A fine and rare William and Mary Period bird and floral marquetry inlaid Walnut Chest of Drawers, the rectangular top with a central oval inlaid reserve and flanked by inlaid spandrels all within a cross banded border above two half-width and three full-width drawers all with conforming bird and floral marquetry panels and the whole raised on bun feet.

Circa 1690,

Height: 36”,(91cm), Width: 39”,(99.5cm), Depth: 22 ½”, (57cm).

Price: £17,500-

When William and Mary acceded to the throne in 1688, it has often been held that this brought the Dutch influence and style to the fore though when one examines it more closely it is clear that Charles II’s legacy is that right through to the early Georgian period it is really the French styles that held predominance in both the English Court and Society. William’s close adviser, Daniel Marot, was, of course, a Frenchman with a background at the French Court. That does not however, mean that Cabinetmakers here in England were merely producing “French” furniture. That is most decidedly not the case any more than they produced “Dutch” furniture under William and Mary. English furniture uses many of the decorative motifs from across the Channel and interprets them in the decoration of  English pieces in a decidedly English way.