Desk

Prices for good-quality writing desks continue to recover – as was evident when a George II example more than tripled top hopes.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Although now known as Gainsborough chairs, generous walnut and upholstered armchairs were often referred to by contemporaries as ‘French’ chairs, as the most elaborate styles were based on French rococo.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859- 1930), author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, was so keen to work during his extensive travels that in 1925 he commissioned a case-maker to create a trunk that transformed into a writing desk.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

In the 1950s French designer Raymond Cohen and his firm Cohray were producing a range of ultra-modern furniture that – although made for the machine age – were all put together by hand.

Just as fine English mahogany is selling below par, Chinese furniture, particularly in the desirable huanghuali hardwood, is booming.

Simplicity and geometry are key to the works of Eugène Printz, one of the Parisian practitioners of Art Deco design.

An Edwardian Carlton House satinwood desk of the type which was once a best-seller at auction, but an early casualty of the furniture slump, was back in favour at the Hartleys (17.5% buyer’s premium) summer sale in Ilkley.

Designed by Bodil Kjaer, this 1960s oak, palisander and steel ‘executive desk’ offered at Chiswick Auctions (23% buyer’s premium) is a classic example of the huge influence of Scandinavian architects on Western post-war design.

Bargueño desks, designed to hold documents and money, originated in Renaissance Spain and remained popular through the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.