A very high quality and beautiful 19th Century Victorian Burr Walnut Wellington Secretaire Chest with seven graduated mahogany lined drawers (two being dummy, forming the facia of the secretaire drawer) fitted with turned knob handles. The secretaire drawer opens to reveal four pigeon holes and two small birdseye maple drawers.
Flanked by pilasters with elegant carved corbels the Wellington is secured by hinged locking pilasters on the right side which can be locked with a working key. Raised on a plinth base.
The first Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, commissioned the first chest of this type, i.e. a tall bank of drawers secured by hinged locking pilasters to take with him and carry around various battlefields and that is where the name wellington chest comes from. It is now used to refer to almost any tall, narrow antique chest of drawers. From around 1820 onwards they were manufactured in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, plus they varied a great deal in terms of both their quality and the wood which they are constructed from.
Circa: 1860
Dimensions:
Height: 48.5 inches – 123 cms
Width: 26.5 inches – 67 cms
Depth: 20 inches – 51 cms
Reference: WELL2601
POA
