Fine Furniture A timeline in woods
Left:
A NORTH GERMAN PIER MIRROR An unusual brass and mahogany North German mid 19th century tall pier mirror. The top and bottom of the mirror have rectangular panels of watercolour grisaille, the upper panel depicting Apollo and the lower a bacchante. Each section is bordered with a brass moulding. The mirror plate is a later replacement. F2F0110 North Germany, circa 1840 Height: 86in (219cm) Width: 25in (64cm)
Opposite:
A REGENCY BOIS CLAIR OCCASIONAL TABLE A Regency circular bois clair tripod table in the continental style, in the manner of Edward Holmes Baldock, the top with delicate radiating inlay of flower stems, the triform pedestal also with stylised foliate inlay in contrasting wood and raised on down-curving scroll supports. Edward Holmes Baldock (b. 1777, d. 1845) F2G0161 English, circa 1820 Height: 28¼ in (72cm) Diameter: 23½ in (60cm) Edward Holmes Baldock was a furniture dealer and restorer known to operate from premises in Hanway Street, London from 1805. His business and specialisation steadily expanded and in 1821 he was described in the Post Office Directories as an ‘antique furniture and ornamental china dealer’, this entry was re-defined in 1826 to ‘buying, selling, exchanging and valuing China, Cabinets, Screens, Bronzes etc’. In addition to restoring existing furniture, he also produced designs for new pieces and had them made to his specifications. One of his commissions was to produce designs for a suite of bedroom furniture in 1841 for the Duke of Buccleuch. A design for a table in the Buccleuch papers is annotated, ‘No. 3 Amboyna wood ground with coloured flowers’ which is almost certainly the preliminary sketch for a table which was made later. He is known for a number of well-constructed, and in certain cases, finely inlaid pieces of furniture marked with his initials, ‘EHB’. Some of these pieces were pastiches of 18th century French furniture and others are executed in contemporary English style. Baldock’s bills survive in many important archives including the Windsor Royal Archives, George IV’s papers 1827-28, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury’s private archives and the Duke of Northumberland’s private archives amongst many others.
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