English globe writing desk, c1810, Morgan & Sanders.
This company had produced a working model of Remington's patent by 1809, when their first article appeared in the Ackermann's monthly Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions and Politics. A more complete description of this model was published in the Ackermann’s Repository in Feb 1810. This second article called the model Pitt's Cabinet Globe Writing Table in honour William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806). He was the British politician who'd been the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at 24! He remained in office, on and off, until his death in 1806 and was famous for leading Britain during the great wars against Emperor Napoleon and his French armies.
Morgan & Sanders were already known as specialists in the field of metamorphic or multi-purpose furniture, producing a wide range of items that included armchairs and tables which converted into library steps or beds. I have examined this phenomenon before in the blog. What made the globe metamorphic? From the outside the piece looked like any other terrestrial globe. But when opened, the secretaire was complete with a series of small drawers and compartments, neatly designed and tucked out of sight. The writing slope was also neatly designed, tilting upwards when in use but otherwise inset flush into the desk.
Note the writing slope set flush into the table top, the pigeon holes and drawers
At a time of ongoing war in Europe, it seemed sensible to market this globe to army and navy officers; senior officers needed fully functional furniture that could be easily transported. But the Regency era (expansively defined as 1795 on) was also a period fascinated with mechanical science and besotted with world globes. Thus I cannot rule out the idea that the globe was designed for middle class families who simply needed elegant library furniture.
Some auction houses described the globes as Biedermeier in taste and Viennese by materials. At least one globe-shaped work table was auctioned as a Biedermeier piece, made in Vienna in the c1815-1820 era. Apart from the fact that the names Morgan and Sanders London were not inscribed on the lock plate with their patent number, what made the auctioneers believe it was Viennese?
Two factors need attention: date of manufacture and materials used. As Biedermeier was hugely popular between 1815 (Congress of Vienna that ended the Napoleonic Wars) and 1848 (onset of European revolutions), the dates might be just about be right. But possibly it was the maple veneer, bird's-eye maple, fruitwoods and ebonised wood that sounded Viennese. Britain’s globes would have been made from mahogany and satinwood.
The name of a Viennese craftsman, Josef Danhauser, was mentioned in a few auction catalogues. Was he a follower of Morgan and Sanders’s metamorphic furniture? Imitation was very common in the world of the arts, but we would need to know who came first with the globes – Morgan and Sanders in London or Danhauser in Vienna.
In all the globe furniture, the external design remained relatively constant - the globe shaped body had brass ribs with quadrant shaped doors, four bold downscrolled gilt OR ebonised legs, on brass feet that could be plain OR winged and clawed. The lower section of the globe sometimes had two drawers, built so flush into the mahogany that they cannot be seen in the photos.
But once opened, the space could have been intended for very different purposes - as a secretaire, a sewing table or a work table. The internal elements were naturally designed to suit the user and his/her purpose. A hinged writing and reading slide would not, for example, have been placed in a sewing box. Parquetry brickwork decoration would have been more attractive in a work table; in a secretaire, cedar lined pigeon holes would have been more useful.
To give an indication of size and value, Sotheby’s Amsterdam globe was 118 cm high and 90 cm diameter (Apr 2006 auction). At the Feb 2013 auction, Christie’s globe was slightly smaller - 109cm in height with a diameter of 84cm. This second globe realised £37,250 or USA $57,000.
** I have seen plenty of George III mahogany knife boxes before, but examine a pair of George III mahogany revolving cylinder cutlery boxes auctioned by Thomas Coulborn in Sutton Coldfield. Attributed to Thomas Chippendale the younger (1749–1822), they wrote that the use of the lion head above a pilaster terminating in a lion’s foot was consistent with the designs of a number of the leading designers of the Regency period. Amongst Thomas Sheraton’s later drawings in his Dictionary and his Encyclopaedia, readers saw revolving elements in bedside commodes with similar inlay and mechanical design.
Mahogany knife boxes 1805, opened (left) and shut (right)
They are 60 cm high
Unfortunately the location of the actual
designs for these amazing items remains unknown. But the success of
their invention was undisputed; clearly created to cause delight in both their mechanical
ingenuity and their great architectural presence, the knife boxes embodied the victorious spirit of Regency design. The revolving central section of graduated tiers of cutlery racks and the lifting lid were not literally metamorphic, but the viewer would not have been able to tell what the knife box was, once the doors had been shut and the lid had been lowered.
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