A superb William IV brass-inlaid kingwood writing box by Edwards

A superb William IV brass-inlaid kingwood writing box by Edwards, of typical rectangular form opening at an angle to reveal a pen tray flanked by covered and open compartments above a writing slope created by two hinged panels inset with tooled green leather, each with storage beneath and one with a braid lattice for holding papers, with six disguised calamander drawer behind two sprung loaded panels, decorated with flame veneers within wide borders of brass boulle-work on an ebony ground and a central heraldic lion escutcheon, inset traveling handles, Bramah locks, with two labels reading ‘Edwards Manufacturer, 21 King Street, Blooms^y Sq^e’, ink bottles missing.  English, circa 1830.

Footnote: David Edwards established his cabinetmaking business in 1813 based at 84 St James’s Street, London and moved to 21 King Street, Bloomsbury, London a year later.

Gaining a great reputation for the quality of his work, David Edwards received a royal warrant from William IV in 1830. From that date his business label read ‘Writing and Dressing Case manufacturer to his most gracious Majesty’.  In 1832 Thomas Edwards, David’s nephew, joined the business in 1832 and they secured the Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria and the Royal Family.  Thomas’s son, Thomas Jeyes Edwards, succeeded him in the running of the business, winning a prize medal for ‘excellence of workmanship’ for his dressing cases and writing boxes at the Great Exhibition of 1851.  The firm of Edwards was absorbed into Asprey in 1858.