Georgian Mahogany Desk, Late 18th Century

Small Georgian period mahogany knee-hole desk with blue leather zippered writing surface.  
It features a single full-width center drawer topped by a hinged cupboard door in the knee hole, flanked on each side by three graduated drawers on raised pedestals revealing carved bracket feet or "hook" feet. Each drawer has a brass swivel handle and a brass keyhole with a key.
The brass hardware is original.
 
Period : End of XVIIIth century
Dimensions : Height : 81cm x Length : 103cm x Depth : 58cm

The 18th century is the great period of splendor of English furniture, the rich and cultured aristocracy of the Grand Tour builds villas surrounded by beautiful gardens, acquires art collections and wants a brand new furniture that follows the fashions of the time. 

The cabinetmakers thus followed the aesthetic evolutions, while maintaining a very high level of execution and refinement which contributed to the fame of the English furniture of the XVIIIth century, in particular in the work on mahogany, whose two greatest representatives are Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) and Georges Hepplewhite (1727-1786), recognized thanks to the diffusion of their books of models

The Georgian style is a term used to designate the period covering the reigns of four rulers named George, during almost a century. 

During this period, several styles succeeded one another. The first, the "early Georgian", between 1714 and 1760, established the main characteristics of furniture in the eighteenth century. 

One of the great revolutions was the advent of mahogany, which replaced walnut around 1720 because of the French embargo on the export of walnut to England. 

This change influenced the design and decoration of the furniture and caused the abandonment of marquetry and carved decorations: silver or gold were preferred as they were better suited to mahogany. The pieces also became lighter and more openworked, because the wood is very solid.

This period is the one of the intimate alliance between the interior decoration and the global interior furnishing, of which the architect William Kent is the greatest representative in the first half of the century.