A very rare James II period oyster olivewood and floral marquetry escritoire, concealing eight secret drawers.  Attributed to Thomas Pistor. 

The cross-grain cavetto cornice sits over a cushion-moulded hidden drawer decorated with three panels of floral marquetry on a ground of ebony. The crossbanded fall is centred by a large oval of oyster olivewood bookmatched veneers lined with boxwood  stringing and is beautifully decorated almost entirely in floral marquetry on an ebony ground with depictions of spring flowers, birds with metallic eyes, a butterfly, a tazza, and most unusually for English marquetry, a bumblebee. The fall opens on the original lock, hinges and straps to reveal a silk velvet writing surface and an extensive arrangement of pigeon holes above holly banded oyster olivewood bookmatched drawers with oak linings around a central cupboard. The latter is similarly veneered with the addition of interlacing boxwood stringing. Each other division between the pigeon holes can be pulled out to reveal a secret drawer. Once the central cupboard is open, one can remove a well-made cross-grain moulded box to reveal a further three drawers. 

The cross-grain waist-moulded lower chest consists of two short and two long oak-lined graduating drawers, each crossbanded, veneered in oysters of olivewood and inset with break arch marquetry panels on an ebony ground. It stand on four turned bun feet. The brass escutcheons and the axe-head brass drop handles are faithful replacements.

The holly crossbanded sides are veneered with large bookmatched olivewood oysters. 

This exquisite piece of furniture is in fine condition and has excellent colour and patination. 

Date: circa 1685 – 1690

Height: 61 ½ (156.25 cm)

Width: 42 ¾ (108.5 cm)

Depth: 18 ½ in (47 cm)

* There were in fact, two cabinet-makers called Thomas Pistor, father and son, working for a period at the same time but at different premises. One or both are known to have made furniture of quality for Levens Hall, which included a floral marquetry table.

From the 4-18 August 1950 Country Life ran a series of articles featuring what was then the recently rebuilt Buxted Park, a house reconstructed by the architect Basil Lonides following a serious fire and in one of the illustrations a kingwood escritoire is visible. Subsequently, Christopher Gilbert commented in ‘The Dictionary of Marked London Furniture’, Leeds, 1996, p.44 that a “highly important kingwood fall-front cabinet inscribed ‘Thomas Pistor, Ludgate Hill, London’, formerly owned by the Hon. Basil Ionides, unfortunately, remains untraced. It was amongst the Buxted Park furniture at Sotheby’s, 25 September 1963, lot 168 (withdrawn)…”. The whereabouts of this escritoire remain unknown and further details of how the pieces are marked remain uncertain.

The overall profile and proportions of the Buxted escritoire conform to that of this escritoire.

HW6470