The 1792 engraved pattern for this combined wine-table and cistern-on-stand for a dining-room fireside was published in The Cabinet-Makers' London Book of Prices, 1793, pl.22, fig.1 (reproduced in F.H.S.J., 1982, pp. 102-103). The pattern signed 'Hepplewhite' was submitted by Alice Hepplewhite & Co., but might have been invented earlier by her husband George Hepplewhite (d.1786), cabinet-maker of Redcross St., Cripplegate. Another pattern (pl.X in the Book of Prices) was stated to have been 'executed with good effect' for George, Prince of Wales. Similarly, there is a strong possibilty that this wine-table is an example of the firm's work and the prototype for the engraved pattern. In a recent publication by R.Butler and G.Walking, The Book of Wine Antiques, 1987, pp. 223-226, the authors discuss the Hepplewhite 'social table' engraving, but had been unable to trace a surviving example directly after the design.

Hepplewhite was reputed to have been apprenticed by the firm of Gillows who, interestingly, published a modified version of Hepplewhite's 'social table' in their own furniture sketch books of the late 18th century (now in the archives of Westminster Public Library). This design is reproduced in I.Hall, 'Patterns of Elegance: The Gillows' Furniture Designs-I', Country Life, 8 June 1978, p.1615, fig.11.