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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Hallingdalen, post: 13114387, member: 93477&quot;]My latest find is this rather elaborate Viennese/Austrian mahogany secrétaire, probably from the 1820s. It has a black marble top, carefully selected and matched mahogany veneers, brass lion-mask ring handles and pierced escutcheons, and a fall front containing a removable writing table with a gilt-tooled black leather writing surface.</p><p><br /></p><p>The interior is particularly impressive, using several contrasting woods and veneers. The small drawer fronts have highly figured burr/root veneers, while the central mirrored section incorporates striking radiating sunburst/fan-pattern veneer work, assembled from contrasting segments. Lighter secondary woods are used for the drawer sides and internal construction, with dark ebonised details providing contrast and giving the interior an almost architectural character.</p><p><br /></p><p>The mirror itself conceals another fitted compartment containing several additional small drawers. The fall front also has a concealed counterweight mechanism.</p><p><br /></p><p>What I particularly like is how much of the workmanship and expense went into details that are barely apparent when the secrétaire is closed. Fine hand-cut dovetails, multiple decorative and secondary woods, carefully matched veneers, segmented radial veneer work, hidden drawers, mortised brass hardware and the counterweighted fall all required considerably more material and skilled labour than a simpler secrétaire. The restrained mahogany exterior therefore hides a surprisingly elaborate and technically sophisticated interior.</p><p><br /></p><p>It was clearly not the cheapest way to build a secrétaire and seems to have been made as a high-grade cabinetmaker&#039;s piece, where mechanical refinement and the quality of the interior mattered as much as outward appearance.</p><p><br /></p><p>I haven’t received it yet. I’ll share pictures of the construction, woods, hidden compartments and counterweight mechanism once it arrives.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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