POSSIBLY BY LOUIS LE GAIGNEUR, CIRCA 1820

The precise design of the stretcher and legs on this table appears on furniture attributed to the pre-eminent 'buhl' manufacturer, Louis le Gaigner, who was listed at 19 Queen Street, Edgeware Road in 1815-1816. One of a few firms who revived brass-inlaid patterns reminiscent of the ancient regime, Le Gaigneur enjoyed the patronage of the Prince of Wales, later George IV for whom he supplied two library tables now at Windsor Castle. A library table attributed to this maker, again exhibiting the same feet and stretcher is illustrated in C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, Eighteenth Century English Furniture: The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, 1983, pp.170-171. Another table was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 7 April 1990, lot 94. A further library table with the same base and distinctive lozenge and anthemion mounts was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 7 July 2000, lot 100 (£18,900).