Vintage Victorian Ash Roll Top Desk with Glass Interior

An vintage roll top desk in Victorian ash, early to mid 20th…
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An vintage roll top desk in Victorian ash, early to mid 20th century, the tambour top desk opening to a glass topped interior and an arrangement of pigeon, holes, rail and stile side panels and an arched kneehole below a central drawer flanked by pillars, with three drawers, the lower of double depth with rectangular and cupped pull handles; with a filing stand resting on top. Height 136 cm, width 142 cm, depth 74 cm

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  • Rail - A term used by cabinet makers for the horizontal sections of the frame of an item such as a chair or settee which have a front rail, a back rail and two side rails, and also on a door or carcase, where the rails are joined to the vertical framings.
  • Stile - A cabinetmaker's term that refers to the vertical end members of the framework in a panelled item of furniture. The vertical mid-members are known as muntins.
  • Roll Top - A term introduced in the 19th century to describe a desk with a sliding enclosed top.
  • Tambour - A form of folding shutter formed by narrow widths of wood with the flat side glued to canvas, and used on some writing desks, sideboards and other cabinets.

    The tambours may run vertically and enclose some stationery compartments, such as in a lady's writing desk. Or the tambours may run horizontally, such as in a Cutler desk, and form an enclosure for the whole of the writing surface.
  • Panels - Timber pieces, usually of well-figured wood either recessed or applied over the frames of doors and as decoration elsewhere in the carcase of cabinet furniture. The panels may take a variety of shapes rectangular, square, shield shape, oval, half-round or in the form of Egyptian pylons.
  • Kneehole - A recessed section, mainly found on Georgian desks and dressing tables, which does not go through the full depth of the item, and usually terminates in a cupboard at the back.
  • Victorian Period - The Victorian period of furniture and decorative arts design covers the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. There was not one dominant style of furniture in the Victorian period. Designers used and modified many historical styles such as Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, Neoclassical and others, although use of some styles, such as English Rococo and Gothic tended to dominate the furniture manufacture of the period.

    The Victorian period was preceded by the Regency and William IV periods, and followed by the Edwardian period, named for Edward VII (1841 ? 1910) who was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India for the brief period from 1901 until his death in 1910.

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