Rosewood Writing Box with Inlay and Stationery Compartments

• Rosewood - A dense timber that varies in shade to very light brown to almost black. When rosewood is cut and sanded the colour of the timber will turn black, and after polishing and exposure to daylight, the surface will gradually lighten over time to light brown with black streaks.
  
  The name comes from the odour emanating from the timber when it is planed, sanded or cut.
  
  Rosewood was very popular for use in Victorian furniture in the second half of the 19th century, and at that time most of the rosewood was imported from Brazil. However it also grows in India and Indonesia.
  
  It is used in the sold for chairs and table legs, but for carcase furniture such as side cabinets and bookcases, and for table tops it is always used as a veneer.
• Gold Tooled - Gold tooling on leather inlays in desks and other furniture and leather book bindings refers to the decorative process of embossing the leather with a design using gold leaf. The design is first traced onto the leather and then incised into the surface using a small blade. The incisions are then gilded with thin sheets of gold leaf. The gold leaf is burnished into the leather to create a raised, metallic design. The process is repeated until the entire design is covered in gold.
• Thomas Sheraton - Thomas Sheraton (1751-1806) was born in Stockton on Tees in the north of England. He was apprenticed to a local cabinetmaker and after working as a cabinetmaker, Sheraton moved to London about 1790. Although he described himself as a cabinet-maker, like Chippendale, no definite piece of furniture can be traced to him as maker. Nevertheless, he was immensely influential and in 1791-4 published his four volume book 'The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book'. The books were used as source of design by the furniture-making trade , who often simplified or modified the designs to suit their own preferences. Sheraton furniture is marked by restraint and sophistication, elegance and discretion, though he also found time to invent fanciful combination furniture.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• boxes, function - stationery and document boxes 127
• boxes, writing - writing boxes / writing slopes, rosewood 77