Kneehole
A kneehole is an open spatial volume at the center of a desk or dressing (bureau) table flanked by pedestals of drawers. The space is typically shallow and closed at the back by a compartment with door. In a desk, the kneehole is usually overlaid by a short ‘lap’ drawer flanked on either side by another short drawer. In a dressing or bureau table, the kneehole is usually overlaid by one long drawer. These tables frequently have a concealed drawer in the form of a short decorative apron at the top of the kneehole opening.
Some sources place the origin of the kneehole desk in eighteenth century England, but similar forms were known in seventeenth century France.
The tradition is that these desks were designed to be used by individuals seated sideways to the desk’s front, with only one knee in the shallow ‘hole’. In that era most of the gentlemen for whom this desk form was designed wore swords as part of their regular dress. Swords could be awkward if the gentleman sat fully into the desk, hence the new, more accommodating form. A similar circumstance applied to ladies using a kneehole dressing or bureau table. Their long, full gowns made sitting straight in to the table awkward, but like the gentlemen with swords, the ladies could easily sit half-way into the table without mussing their gowns.
Reference note by p4A editorial staff; 08.09.