IN THE MANNER OF JOHN COBB

The taste for such tables, flowered in the French manner, was introduced in the 1750s by the Tottenham Court Road ébéniste Pierre Langlois (d. 1767). The top of this elegantly serpentined table displays a bouquet that is framed in a lozenge-parquetried and hollow-cornered tablet, while the table frieze is inlaid with a triumphal palm trophy amongst flowered sprigs. A table of this form, with shaped undertier and hinged top was supplied to the 4th Duke of Bedford at a cost of 9 guineas (P. Thornton & W. Rieder, 'Pierre Langlois: Ebéniste, part 1', The Connoisseur, December 1971, p. 203). Its marquetry relates in particular to that found on furniture of the 1760s executed by the court cabinet-maker John Cobb (d. 1778) (see L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes: The Lady Lever Art Gallery, London, 1994, no. 7).

A related work-table was sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 16 April 1998, lot 133 ($27,600). A similar work-table, attributed to Langlois was sold from the Saul Steinberg Collection, Sotheby's New York, 26 May 2000, lot 151 ($41,000).