.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This table belongs to a select group of virtually identical design. While the maker responsible for these tables alludes us, all the tables display the same skillful carving and quality timbers indicating that they were executed by one of London's foremost cabinet makers such as William Hallett or William Vile. One example from the group was formerly in the collection of Anthony de Rothschild and is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1927, vol.III, p.240, fig.24. The Dictionary uses the photograph provided by London dealers M. Harris and Son who almost certainly purchased it in the house sale at St. Andrew's Castle, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk in that same year (see the same photograph reproduced in M. Harris and Sons, A Catalogue and Index of Old Furniture and Works of Decorative Art, (n.d., circa 1927), part II, p.241). Another bearing the Partridge label was sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 5 July 1991, lot 90. A further example was exhibited by Mallett in the 1928 BADA exhibition at Grafton Galleries, no.112. Another larger and mounted with lifting handles to the sides appears in situ in the Library at Chesterfield House, London (see H.A. Tipping, English Homes, period V, vol.I, London, 1911, p.xxx).
This table is a prime example of the sophisticated taste and astute eye of the collector H.J. Joel, Esq. who formed his collection under the aegis of the historian/architect Robert Wemyss Symonds. The table was at Sefton Lodge, Joel's racing lodge in Newmarket, and was sold as part of the contents to the buyer of the house. Joel owned another writing table from this same group that was sold along with the majority of his collection when he moved from his house in Childwick Bury, St. Alban's, Hertfordshire. It was included in the celebrated Christie's sale on 15 May 1978, lot 67. The table is illustrated in M. Jourdain and F. Rose, English Furniture: The Georgian Period (1750-1830), 1953, p.73, fig.34.
This table is a prime example of the sophisticated taste and astute eye of the collector H.J. Joel, Esq. who formed his collection under the aegis of the historian/architect Robert Wemyss Symonds. The table was at Sefton Lodge, Joel's racing lodge in Newmarket, and was sold as part of the contents to the buyer of the house. Joel owned another writing table from this same group that was sold along with the majority of his collection when he moved from his house in Childwick Bury, St. Alban's, Hertfordshire. It was included in the celebrated Christie's sale on 15 May 1978, lot 67. The table is illustrated in M. Jourdain and F. Rose, English Furniture: The Georgian Period (1750-1830), 1953, p.73, fig.34.