Antique Bureaux on Bracket Feet
BUREAUX reproduction, on bracket feet
The bureau seems to have languished (except as a bonheur-du-jour) until nearly the end of the 19th century when it enjoyed a revival in various forms but particularly in reproduction Sheraton style. The illustrations in
this section trace the main types of bracket foot bureaux up to 1930. We have included those with solid plinths in this section also, since all the others are raised on legs of differing types.
A mahogany bureau of 18th century design, fairly faithfully reproduced. With three long drawers and a fitted interior. A fairly wide bureau 3ft.6ins. on bracket feet, which is so simple in following the 18th century
original without unnecessary decoration that one feels it might easily pass off as an 18th century piece. 1900-1930
A mahogany bureau of late 18th century ‘design’, inlaid with stringing lines in boxwood and with marquetry panels, in the centre of which is a chinoiserie scene. Such inlaid panels require considerable expertise to
produce and it is a high quality piece, but, like so many Edwardian inlaid items, the decoration is just that little bit too flowery for comfort. 1900-1910
A typical, almost classic, Edwardian Sheraton bureau, 2ft.6ins. wide, made in mahogany with satinwood crossbanding. There is a shell inlay in the centre of the fall, which is almost regulation, not to say de rigueur.
Hundreds of these once-despised bureaux are now being sold by antique shippers to all parts of the globe. 1900-1910
A mahogany small bureau 2ft. wide with splayed bracket feet in the Hepplewhite manner. Like several types of Edwardian bureau, it incorporates ‘automatic action’, which means that the lopers to support the fall slide out automatically when the fall is lowered. This obviates the need to pull them out manually and individually and is a security measure against lowering the fall without having the lopers extended, thus risking smashing the fall off at the hinges. Ah, progress!
A figured mahogany veneered bureau in late 18th century style. A very faithful reproduction in terms of proportion and restraint, with only the matched veneers on the drawers giving away perhaps the late origins of its manufacture.
A variation on the typical Edwardian Sheraton bureau of 2ft.6ins. wide dimensions in mahogany. This one has the regulation satinwood crossbanding around the mahogany surfaces but has only one drawer beneath the fall and cupboard doors containing a shelf in place of the normal two lower drawers hence less desirable, since it is less like the original 18th century piece from which it was copied, even if it may be more useful for some people’s application. 1900-1910
A carved oak bureau which is characteristic in production and style. The lion-mask carved drawer handles are characteristic and the carving of the fall draws on 17th century models but adds 19th century arrangement to it. Note the solid frieze of the base no concession to history there. 1895-1915
Another carved oak bureau with ‘lion-mask’ handles, this time on bracket feet but with the typical Edwardian addition of a shelf on top with a carved cresting rail.
A walnut bureau 2ft.6ins. wide on feet which are half-way between Hepplewhite splayed feet and cabrioles. Otherwise unexceptional.
This is not a contemporary oak bureau. It is an 18th century bureau which has been carved up by a Victorian Imedievaliser’ or creator of ‘antiques’. Covered over with a penetrating black stain and carved with 17th
century forms, the piece met the taste for medieval oak popular at the turn of the century.
The end of the line in bracket feet. An oak bureau which is not reproduction as such and yet owes much to traditional design. The attempt to modify the traditional bracket foot into a tapered version is not successful.
The slightly art deco metal embellishment on the fall and the feet are all that distinguish the piece from a standard type.
Tags: 18th century, 19th century, Bureaux, chinoiserie, drawers, foot, Hepplewhite, mahogany, mahogany veneer, satinwood, Sheraton, Wood