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Lot Essay
This elegant silver table, with it’s distinctive Vitruvian scroll frieze and acanthus-headed tapering pilaster legs is likely the work of the Royal cabinetmaker John Cobb (d. 1778). A closely related serving table attributed to him shares the characteristics was supplied to Sir George Strickland for Boynton Hall, Yorkshire is now at Temple Newsam House, Leeds (C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, no. 337, pp. 278-80). Two other tables, including one that may have been the pair to the present lot but was altered in size was sold anonymously at Christie's London, 14 June 2001, lot 135 (£97,250) and a serving table supplied to John Scott, Esq., for Banks Fee House, Longborough, Gloucestershire, circa 1765 was sold anonymously at Christie’s, London July 2000, lot 137.
This table is a prime example of the sophisticated taste and astute eye of the renowned collector H.J. ‘Jim’ Joel (1895-1992) who formed his collection under the aegis of the historian/architect Robert Wemyss Symonds. Then considered the greatest living authority on English furniture, Symonds is noted for his curatorial approach in the formation of the collections he helped to assemble, including Percival Griffiths, J.S. Sykes and Samuel Messer.
This table is a prime example of the sophisticated taste and astute eye of the renowned collector H.J. ‘Jim’ Joel (1895-1992) who formed his collection under the aegis of the historian/architect Robert Wemyss Symonds. Then considered the greatest living authority on English furniture, Symonds is noted for his curatorial approach in the formation of the collections he helped to assemble, including Percival Griffiths, J.S. Sykes and Samuel Messer.