This table is based on a design in the Cabinet-Makers London Book of Prices, a practical trade manual issued in 1788. Of the twenty plates, seventeen are signed by Thomas Shearer and three are anonymous. Although one of Shearer's designs (plate 10) is very similar to the present lot, it corresponds more closely to the anonymous plate 10. The dimensions correspond exactly to those given in the text (pp. 89-90). Shearer's design gives twin short dummy drawers to the front whereas plate 10 shows one long drawer, as on the present lot. The arrangement of the harlequin till on the present lot is simpler than either design. An undated drawing by George Speer may be the original of both (A. Coleridge, 'George Speer', Apollo, October 1970, pp. 274-83, fig. 16). Several closely related examples are known, eg. at Temple Newsam House, cat. no. 429. An example with a more sophisticated writing-drawer was sold at Sotheby's London, 20 October 1972, lot 105