Lot Essay
The Manchester architect and designer J. Henry Sellers was a close friend of Sir Hubert Worthington and the table was beqeathed to Sir Hubert on Sellers' death.
Sellers went into partnership with fellow Manchester architect Edgar Wood in 1904, and the practice produced a number of striking buildings strongly influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. The interiors of their houses and their designs for furniture were frequently embellished with textiles and wallpaper produced by Morris & Co. (see lot 40).
Sellers' designs for furniture were an extension of the English tradition of woodworking, and in terms of the quality of craftsmanship and the use of exotic and sophisticated materials, may be compared with the work of Peter Waals. Although his style remained essentially rooted in the late 18th and early 19th century, the result, as in the present table, was often astonishingly modern.
Cf: Partnership in Style. Edgar Wood and J. Henry Sellers, Manchester City Art Gallery, October/November 1975, Cat. No. E.59, writing desk with similar detailing illustrated.
Sellers went into partnership with fellow Manchester architect Edgar Wood in 1904, and the practice produced a number of striking buildings strongly influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. The interiors of their houses and their designs for furniture were frequently embellished with textiles and wallpaper produced by Morris & Co. (see lot 40).
Sellers' designs for furniture were an extension of the English tradition of woodworking, and in terms of the quality of craftsmanship and the use of exotic and sophisticated materials, may be compared with the work of Peter Waals. Although his style remained essentially rooted in the late 18th and early 19th century, the result, as in the present table, was often astonishingly modern.
Cf: Partnership in Style. Edgar Wood and J. Henry Sellers, Manchester City Art Gallery, October/November 1975, Cat. No. E.59, writing desk with similar detailing illustrated.