A fine Queen Anne burr yew tallboy

Decorated with chequered ebony and boxwood inlay. The upper part with a cavetto cornice and canted corners above three short and three long drawers, all with replaced brasses, flanked by flutings. The lower part with a slide above three long drawers. Standing on replaced bracket feet. Excellent colour and patination. English, circa 1710.
Yew trees have a very slow growth rate, and burr yew is consequently an extremely rare and valuable veneer. Both the configuration and the colour of the veneer, which was generally used on fine pieces of London furniture, are superior to burr walnut. Burr yew veneers are usually found decorating the tops of small pieces of furniture, such as candlestands, and it is extremely rare to find large pieces of furniture veneered in burr yew. The importance of this fine tallboy is illustrated by the use of burr yew veneers, together with the use of ebony which was also a rare, exotic and expensive wood at the time.

The workmanship on this tallboy is of a very fine and high standard. The cabinet maker has not only used ebony and boxwood stringing to decorate the edges of the drawers, but has divided all the long drawers and the slide in order to perfect the proportion of the piece. This is a rare feature, only found on the finest pieces of Queen Anne furniture.