PROPERTY FROM THE RICHARD MILHENDER COLLECTION A Fine and Rare Chinese Huali Kneehole Desk or 'Buroe' Dressing Table/Desk in the manner of Thomas ChippendaleCirca 1760 Supported on double bracket feet and set with six short drawers and one long drawer surrounding the kneehole opening which is itself set with two drawers and an open shelf with simple but rare arch bracket above, each drawer has Chinese paktong ( baitong ) fitted key holes and handle plates with swan-neck handles, the sides with larger carrying handles, all set below a molded-edge top, the underside of most of the drawers' bear Chinese number characters in black-ink and seven drawers bear a western paper label (Dutch) identifying its contents or use, the desk with an especially brilliant honey-toned original patina to the surface. 29 3/4in (75.6cm) high; 44 1/4in (112.4cm) wide; 27 5/8in (70cm) deep 十八世紀 花梨英式齊本德爾風格辦公桌 Provenance: Michael and Jane Dunn Antiques, Claverack, NY, 24 October 1984 The Richard Milhender Collection, Boston, Massachusetts, 1984-present Published: Carl L. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of the China Trade: Paintings, Furnishings and Exotic Curiosities , Antique Collector's Club, Suffolk, UK, 1991, p. 230, Color Plate 82 The Magazine Antiques , February 1992, in an article by Carl L. Crossman, 'China Trade Furniture', p. 334, Pl. V. and p. 337 Exhibited: Peabody Museum, Salem Massachusetts (now the Peabody Essex Museum), Chinese Export Art: Highlights of a Private Collection , 1986-1988 出處： 紐約 Claverack, Michael and Jane Dunn Antiques, 1984 年 12 月 24 日 麻州波士頓 Richard Milhender 藏，1984 年至今 出版記錄： Carl L. Crossman, 《中國貿易與裝飾藝術：繪畫、傢俱、異國珍奇》，骨董藏家俱樂部，英國薩福克郡，1991 年，第 230 頁，彩版 82 The Magazine Antiques 雜志，1992 年二月，Carl L. Crossman 文《中國外銷家俱》第 334 頁，圖 V 與第 337 頁 展出記錄： 麻州塞勒姆，皮博迪博物館《中國外銷藝術：私人收藏精粹》，1986-1988 Carl Crossman, in remarks on this desk in The Magazine Antiques , February 1992, in an article entitled 'China Trade Furniture', p. 337, notes the rarity of Chinese export kneehole dressing tables, an immensely practical furniture form, that could serve as a desk, a storage cabinet, or a dressing table. He illustrates the Milhender example (Pl. V) and states that it is copied directly from Thomas Chippendale's first edition The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director of 1754, varying only in measurements. He also mentions the particularly fine quality of the Chinese brass hardware referred to as paktong ( baitong ). It seems highly likely that a copy of the Chippendale book, or a drawing based on it, was sent to Guangzhou as a template. Our dressing table is conceived in the fashionable 'antique' manner of the early George III period and has hallmarks reminiscent of the celebrated St. Martin's Lane cabinetmaker, Thomas Chippendale. It employs a finely figured wood, hauli in this instance, and the simple details are treated with an elegant restraint. For a slightly les