A DUTCH WALNUT

A DUTCH WALNUT, MARQUETRY AND CARVED BUREAU, DATED '1687', 19TH C the stepped serpentine interior with well and secret compartment, the sides also decorated, bronze rococo handles, 114cm h; 59 x 125cmProvenance: Given by the Soviet Ambassador to the United Kingdom to his Mayfair barber as a memento to the friendship arising from the hairdresser's regular visits to the Embassy during World War Two, on the former's recall to Moscow in either 1943 or 1946 (presumably either Ivan Mikhaylovich Mayskiy or Fyedor Tarasovich Guser); thence by descent to the present vendor.