A RARE BLACK AND GILT LACQUER PAPIER MÂCHÉ AND PEARL SHELL INLAID OCCASIONAL TABLE

BY JENNENS AND BETTRIDGE, BIRMINGHAM AND LONDON, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A RARE BLACK AND GILT LACQUER PAPIER MÂCHÉ AND PEARL SHELL INLAID OCCASIONAL TABLE
By Jennens and Bettridge, Birmingham and London, early 19th Century
The circular tip-up top decorated in gilt and inlaid with pearl shell in the Chinese taste, depicting a procession of figures travelling over an arcaded bridge with a temple to the right within a tree-lined landscape, on a gilt decorated fluted baluster shaft surmounted by a circular brass plaque inscribed J & B, Patent, 24, beneath a coronet, on waved circular dished base and triple scrolled supports, the underside stamped Jennens & Bettridge, London, beneath a coronet, the base with old repairs
24½in. (62.5cm) diam (2)

Lot Essay

In 1816 Aaron Jennens and John Bettridge took over the Birmingham papier mâché works of Henry Clay and in 1837 they opened a showroom at 3, Halkin St., West, Belgrave Square, London. They manufactured papier mâché works of art between 1816 and 1840 and in 1825 they took out a patent for 'ornamenting papier mâché with pearl shell'. They were patronised by a succession of monarchs from George IV through William IV to Queen Victoria. In 1839 they supplied two folding screens for Buckingham Palace and in the 1850's they opened branches in New York and Paris.
(See: C. Gilbert and G. Beard, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, The Furniture History Society, Leeds, 1986, p.484 and 485)

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