A George III mahogany and bronze mounted tambour top writing desk, attributed to John Cobb, circa 1790, the domed tambour top released with a concealed catch, to reveal a tooled leather inset writing surface and four pigeon holes, above an arrangement of five frieze drawers around a central kneehole, with an opposing arrangement of false drawer fronts, on rectangular tapering legs, terminating in brass caps and castors, 91cm high, 118cm wide, 69cm deep Provenance: A deceased estate, Oxfordshire By family repute purchased from a London retailer during the 1960's For a very closely related example see Christie's, London, The English Collector, 19th May 2016, Lot 55 (£30,000). The Christie's example was part of a collection formed by R.W. Symonds for Mr & Mrs Jack Steinberg. A design for a closely related 'cylinder fall desk, with legs' is featured in Thomas Shearer's Cabinet-makers' London Book of Prices, plate 13, 1788. A related design for a 'Tambour Writing Table', 'a very convenient piece of furniture', was included in the third edition of Hepplewhite's The Cabinet-maker and Upholsterer's guide, 1794, pl. 61; an example of the latter was in the collection of Norman Adams (C. Claxton Stevens, S. Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture: the Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, 1983, p. 115).