A George III kingwood and walnut marquetry bombé escritoire circa 1770

possibly by John Linnell, the top with a pair of doors enclosing adjustable shelves and two small drawers, the flap enclosing six small drawers and a central cupboard  enclosing a compartment and four further small drawers, with two frieze drawers opening to the sides, on cabriole legs

This piece is on good overall condition. It has been re-polished and the surface throughtout is extremely shiny.
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The present bureau cabinet shows many different influences in its design. The marquetry decoration and the overall shape show Continental influences and yet much of the construction is purely typically English. It could therefore appear either to be by John Linnell `s firm under the strong Swedish influence of two of his temporary employees Christopher Fuhrlohg and his brother-in-law, George Haupt or by one of the immigrant Swedish cabinet-makers, working in London who had set up their own workshops. 

Christopher Fuhrlohg worked initially in Amsterdam and Paris before finally coming to London in 1767. He initially worked  for Linnell, moving on by 1772 and in 1778 advertised his Tottenham Court Road workshops as having ` several curious.. and elegant pieces of furniture, inlayed after the designs of the most eminent artists'.  He was later to become cabinet maker to the Prince of Wales. He was later joined by other Swedish craftsmen including Fuhrlohg`s half-brother Johann Linning and another Swede, Carl Gustav Martin ( nephew of Georg Haupt). Shortly after his studies in London Georg Haupt became the royal cabinet-maker of King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden and later his follower King Gustav III. His works still can be found in the Swedish castles like Drottningholm, Gripsholm, Haga, Tullgarn and the Princess Sophia Albertina Palace and also in the Swedish National Museum and the Nordic Museum Stockholm.

The form and marquetry decoration of the present cabinet shows great sophistication. The English drawer construction would seem to suggest that it was made by Linnell in collaboration with one or other of these Swedish cabinet makers rather than completely by one of them.

For comparison see Christie`s London, Important English Furniture, 8th June 2006, lot 68 for a similar bureau. This piece is again illustrated in Christopher Claxton Stevens & Stewart Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection,1999, p.122 and discussed in Helena Hayward and Pat Kirkham, William and John Linnell, Eighteenth Century London, Furniture Makers, 1980, 2 vols., Vol II, p.81.