THIRD QUARTER 18TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF JOHN COBB

Details

A GEORGE III ROSEWOOD AND MARQUETRY CENTRE TABLE
THIRD QUARTER 18TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF JOHN COBB
The serpentined rectangular top veneered à quatre faces and centred by a floral spray, above a shaped apron inlaid with flowers, with a slide on one side and a drawer at one end, on cabriole legs
28½ in. (72 cm.) high; 23¾ in. (60 cm.) wide; 16 in. (40 cm.) deep

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 4 July 2002, lot 49.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. 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

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 I', 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. A similar work-table, attributed to Langlois was sold from the Saul Steinberg Collection, Sotheby's, New York, 26 May 2000, lot 151.

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