Lot Essay
This is the only recorded example of an ingenious breakfast table depicted on a cabinet-maker's trade card of the King George II period where it is shown equipped with china and protected in the well (Victoria & Albert Museum - no. E.2320-1889). The table accompanies a framed engraving of a Louis XV style medal-cabinet, which appears to be the celebrated cabinet attributed to John Channon (d.c.1783) cabinet-maker of St. Martin's Lane, and now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (W.7-1964; see: D. Fitz-Gerald, Georgian Furniture, London, 1969, no.37). The apron of the engraved cabinet bears the name 'Potter - London', who may be the cabinet-maker Thomas Potter recorded as working in London in the 1730s (see: The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, p.708). The frame of this breakfast table relates both to that of the 'Channon' cabinet and to that of a brass-inlaid dressing-table in the Victoria & Albert Museum (W44-1947; see: J. Hayward, Tables, London, 1961, fig.19). It is possible that Channon, who established his London cabinet-making business at 'The Golden Fleece', St. Martins Lane, in the late 1730s supplied this table.