A GEORGE III MAHOGANY WRITING TABLE
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A GEORGE III MAHOGANY WRITING TABLE

CIRCA 1170, IN THE MANNER OF GILLOWS

Details
A GEORGE III MAHOGANY WRITING TABLE
CIRCA 1170, IN THE MANNER OF GILLOWS
The eared moulded serpentine-fronted rectangular top lined with a gilt-embossed green leather writing surface, the serpentine waved apron with a fitted mahogany lined drawer with compartments and drawer to the side, lacking slide, with shaped side and back aprons, on cabriole legs with brass caps and castors, the foliate handles original
32¼ in. (82 cm.) high; 41½ in. (101.5 cm.) wide; 26 in. (66 cm.) deep
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

With its distinctive serpentine apron with cockbeaded moulding, this table relates to the documented oeuvre of John Cobb at Scone Palace, Perthshire. John Cobb (d. 1778) was the son-in-law of the renowned early 18th Century cabinet-maker Giles Grendey (d. 1780), a leading manufacturer of furniture for export during the reign of George II. In 1751 he established his partnership with William Vile (d. 1767) and expanded four years later to absorb the neighbouring St. Martin's Lane premises of William Hallett (d. 1781). The latter had been employed at St. Giles's House, Dorset in the 1740s and early 1750s.
On the accession of George III, Vile and Cobb were granted a Royal warrant in 1761 to supply furniture to the Crown under the direction of the Master of the Great Wardrobe. Some of their most celebrated Royal commissions are discussed by Geoffrey Beard, 'Vile and Cobb, Eighteenth-Century London Furniture Makers', Antiques, June 1990, pp. 1394-1405.
These same handles featured on a bonheur-du-jour of very closely related form sold by Leigh Block at Christie's New York, 14 April 1984, lot 131, as well as on a commode discussed by Lucy Wood as a supplementary illustration to a commode by John Carrack and John Cobb in Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, p.87, fig 73.

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