Lot 159
VICTORIAN MAHOGANY PEDESTAL DESK OWNED BY ROBERT BROWNING
CIRCA 1860
Auction: 5 March 2014 at 11:00 GMT
Description
the brown leather inset leather top raised on twin pedestals with four graduated drawers on plinth bases
Dimensions
122cm wide, 76cm high, 65cm deep
Footnote
Note:Robert Browning (7 May 1812 - 12 December 1889) was born in Camberwell, London. The son of a bank clerk, he had Scottish and German descent from his mother's side, whose family had settled in Dundee. Encouraged in his youth by a creative family, his mother being a talented musician and his father possessing an extensive library comprising of 6000 volumes, Browning became the embodiment of the Victorian sage, widely regarded for his knowledge and his explorations of philosophical questions of great resonance in Victorian life. He married fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett in 1846, and while his early poetic career passed in relative obscurity, he has come to be regarded as one of the principal poets of the Victorian period. It can be assumed the present lot was used by Browing for everyday personal use and general correspondence, while his main literary work was completed on another desk which was sold by Sotheby's in 1913.
Provenance: According to the present owners, descendants of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's nephew General Sir Edward Altham, this desk was kept in Robert Browing's study in his Kensington home, 29 De Vere Gardens. It was given to Edward Altham by his cousin Pen, son of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.