A George II brass mounted and engraved brass-inlaid mahogany bureau bookcase attributed to the circle of John Channon (1711-83)

Footnotes

Provenance
Purchased Bonhams, 22 April 1998, Fine English and Continental Furniture, lot 159.

The design of the present lot, with its broken arched pediment and the shaped outline of its doors, relates to the Glympton Park bureau cabinet examined in C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch, John Channon and Brass-inlaid Furniture, 1730-1760, fig. 47, p. 61. However, the brass mounted mouldings to the cornice, frieze, door, waist, fall, plinth base and feet along with its brass cockbeadings are virtually identical to those appearing on two bureaux cabinets attributed to John Channon, also illustrated in C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch's book, fig.'s IV & V. While the drawer configuration certainly equates to that of Ibid, fig. V.

An escutcheon with a spring-flap keyhole-covering which is released through the application of pressure to a point near its top is a distinctive feature on the fall front of the offered model. This is an interesting element characteristic of much of Channon's oeuvre, a comparable example of which from the celebrated Murray writing cabinet is shown in John Channon and Brass-inlaid Furniture, 1730-1760, fig.'s 99 &100, p. 90.

Yet, though reminiscent of numerous pieces either by or attributed to Channon, the brass inlay to the fall front of the offered lot is perhaps closest in its restrained style to the inlay on two Landall and Gordon bureaux cabinets, likewise appearing in Ibid, fig.'s 66 & 70, pp.'s 71 & 73.

John Channon
From 1726 onwards John Channon served as an apprentice to his older brother Otho, who it seems was a cabinet maker from Exeter. In fact John is only first recorded as working from his own London premises at 109, St. Martin's Lane, in 1742. While his earliest known commission is a pair of magnificent brass-inlaid bookcases that were supplied in 1740 for Sir William Courtney's library at Powderham Castle in Exeter. Today these remain the only fully documented work by John Channon.

Although several cabinet makers were producing similar inlaid furniture and designs to Channon during the 1730s and 1740s, perhaps most notably John Fredrick Hintz (d.1772), the market for such pieces appears to have existed even as late as the 1770s. The type of mounted and brass-inlaid Rococo style generally favoured by Channon was directly influenced by Boulle work and in particular German gilt brass mounted furniture. This infers the distinct possibility that either John was of German lineage or maybe the son of emigre parents. After all, numerous men in his family had the German name Otho. Or perhaps he only actively employed German or germanic craftsmen.

Many pieces attributed to John Channon exhibit certain characteristics which are evident on the present lot. These are; richly figured mahogany, mahogany drawer linings, brass mouldings, brass inlay (often finely engraved) and Rococo mounts or escutcheons. While locks on numerous works attributed to Channon are, as on the offered bookcase, fitted with unusual hinged keyhole covers released by concealed springs.

Literature
C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch, John Channon and Brass-inlaid Furniture, 1730-1760, 1993, New Haven and London.