A GEORGE II FIGURED WALNUT SECRETAIRE CHEST ON CHESTCIRCA 1740The fall drawer opening to an arrangement of small drawers and pigeon holes centred by a cupboard door flanked by secret compartments190cm high, 114cm wide, 58cm deep overall See Adam Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, page 119, plate 3:47, for a closely related secretaire chest on chest. 'The chest on chest or double chest of drawers was a Georgian innovation, the earliest known ... in a bill submitted by Gumley and Turing ... to Kensington Palace in 1727. From about 1730 the projecting surbase moulding was gradually superseded by a flush moulding... A refinement about the same time was to angle the corners of the upper case to reduce the visual bulk, at the same time endowing it with quasi-architectural reeded pilasters. The coved sunburst decoration to the bottom of the drawer is usually an indication that the base is fitted with a secretaire. The cove was presumably an attempt to minimise damage to the base moulding from a person seated or standing at the secretaire'.For a closely related example see Sotheby's, London, Classic English Furniture, Norman Adams Legacy, 21st April 2009, lot 45 (£28,750).