An Italian olive wood and inlaid writing bureau, allover…
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An Italian olive wood and inlaid writing bureau, allover decorated with landscape scenes, the upper section with two doors opening to reveal a fully fitted interior, the fall front below also with fitted interior, four short drawers and one long drawer below, on four square tapering legs, early to mid 20th century, height 196 cm, width 115 cm, depth 54 cm.
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- Olive Wood - Olive wood is the wood from the olive tree (Olea europaea). Olive trees are native to the Mediterranean region and have been cultivated for thousands of years for their fruit, oil, and wood. Olive wood is a hardwood with a tight and dense grain, known for its distinctive pattern of light and dark brown streaks, which can create a beautiful and unique look in finished products. It is a popular choice for carving, turning, and furniture making, as well as for decorative and functional items such as kitchen utensils, cutting boards, and religious objects.
- Inlay - Decorative patterns inserted into the main body of a piece of furniture, generally in wood of contrasting colour and grain, though brass, ivory, ebony, shell and sometimes horn have been used. Inlay may consist of a panel of well figured timber inset into a cabinet door front, geometric patterns, or complex and stylized designs of flowers, swags of foliage, fruits and other motifs. As a general rule, in pieces where the carcase is constructed in the solid, the inlay is relatively simple such as stringing, cross banding and herringbone banding. Where more elaborate and decorative work was required veneer was used. Inlay has been fashionable from at least the latter half of the 17th century, when a variety of elaborate forms were developed
- Olivewood - Olivewood is a hard, close-grained wood from southern Europe and has a green-to-yellow colour with interesting black-grey marking. It was used in the mid-17th century for marquetry inlay, because its colour provided contrasting decoration to walnut, which is a darkish brown with black veining. Olivewood was also frequently seen as cross-graining on chests of drawers from the mid-17th century onwards.
- Fall Front - Furniture with a hinged flap, usually associated with desks and secretaires, that opens or 'falls' to provide a flat writing surface. The flap may be supported by chains or brass quadrants and rest on wooden supports or runners, known as lopers, that pull out from a recess in either side of the piece. The interior of a fall-front desk is usually fitted with small drawers and pigeonholes.
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