Antique Kneehole Desks
The antique kneehole desk was made to have two uses, the first a dressing table and the second a writing desk. the antique kneehole desk first appeared in France and the Netherlands in the second half of the 17th century. Early antique desks were commissioned by members of the French court as luxury items and usually mounted with moulded brass borders and elaborate escutcheons or ormolu keyhole mounts.
Until the mid 1700s the kneehole desk was usually made of walnut or oak . The best examples include those made of burr woods and the most elaborate George I and George II kneeholes (1714-1761) have both cross banded and feather banded decorations.and the tops and sides are sometimes quarter veneered. The larger kneeholes desks were made from George III times onwards (1760-1820) and were constructed usually in solid mahogany, with mahogany drawer linings; they usually stand on shaped bracket feet, which replaced the earlier bun feet.
