Edward William Godwin for William Watt, An Anglo-Japanese Walnut Desk.

Edward William Godwin (1833-1886) for William Watt, an Anglo-Japanese walnut desk, with a leather inset top, blind fret frieze and on upper drawer fronts with long deep ledger drawers to the sides, shaped brackets, tapering legs with brass feet. Provenance : See sale Gardiner Houlgate 'Antique Furniture Works of Art' Wednesday 14th July 1999, lot 775, for this desk. Lot 773 an oak buffet and a walnut sideboard in the same style both with William Watt, Grafton Street, London labels.

See Soros, Susan Weber 'The Secular Furniture of E.W. Godwin', p.267 plate 8 from William Watt's 1877 Art Furniture catalogue under Anglo-Japanese drawing room furniture (image attached) one can see that the overall form is the same, has the same long deep drawers to each side and identical brass drop handles. Although it does not have the same work area overhang it does have the same spacing of the shelves suggest a variation of the same theme.