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Lot Essay
The tables are of identical design to one sold Christie's, New York, 21 November 2001, lot 1024 ($50,000 including premium). That had been acquired by the North Carolina Museum of Art in 1952 from the dealer Basil Dighton. He represented it as having been supplied in the mid 18th century to the 3rd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven for Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, and indeed Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster had died in 1951.
Similar tables appear in a photograph of the State Dining Room (see H.A. Tipping and C. Hussey, English Homes, period IV, vol. II, 1928, p. 307, fig. 461) though it does not appear among the many auctions held on behalf of the Ancasters at Grimsthorpe or the family's other main properties at Normanton Park, Gwydyr and Drummond; nor does it figure in the 1903 inventory at Grimsthorpe or a catalogue of the furniture at Normanton in 1904.
Another table of the same design was sold anonymously Christie's, New York, 24 November 2009, lot 360 ($18,750 including premium).
Similar tables appear in a photograph of the State Dining Room (see H.A. Tipping and C. Hussey, English Homes, period IV, vol. II, 1928, p. 307, fig. 461) though it does not appear among the many auctions held on behalf of the Ancasters at Grimsthorpe or the family's other main properties at Normanton Park, Gwydyr and Drummond; nor does it figure in the 1903 inventory at Grimsthorpe or a catalogue of the furniture at Normanton in 1904.
Another table of the same design was sold anonymously Christie's, New York, 24 November 2009, lot 360 ($18,750 including premium).