mahogany bonheur du Jour (c. 1790 Scotland)

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41.00inch high    (  104.14 cm high)

Formerly the property of Dr Alexander Bell FRICS.
This bonheur-du-jour was sold with a bundle of copies of correspondence consisting of fifty letters sent by Dr Alexander Bell FRCS (1776-1862)between 1803 and 1832 and found in the secret drawer of the desk. Dr Bell first had a surgery in the village of Errol on the north bank of the Firth of Tay between Perth and Dundee and then from 1807 in Dundee for the next 43 years. He distinguished himself as a general practitioner and consulting physician. For upwards of thirty years he also officiated as surgeon to the Dundee Infirmary. The correspondence contains not only personal letters but also reports on the Dundee Infirmary, depicting the social and physical conditions prevailing at the time including the relief at the end of the cholera and typhus outbreaks in 1832. The discovery of the correspondence supports the Scottish provenance of this piece. Other indications in support of a Scottish origin are the use of ash in the drawer linings, a feature commonly found in Scottish furniture construction and the use of the thistle inlay, the emblem of Scotland, on the doors.

A fine Sheraton Period mahogany & marquetry bonheur du jour.
Scottish, circa 1790.