POSSIBLY BY PAUL SAUNDERS, CIRCA 1760-65

Details

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY TRIPOD TABLE
POSSIBLY BY PAUL SAUNDERS, CIRCA 1760-65
The lobed top with pierced gallery tilting above a fluted foliate-carved baluster stem on foliate-carved cabriole legs with scrolled toes, the block inscribed in black ink 003 285, inscribed to the bearer in white paint 1277, with inventory label inscribed DR 52.1428
29 ¾ in. (75.5 cm.) high, 26 in. (66 cm.) wide, 23 ¼ in. (59 cm.) deep

Provenance

With Frank Partridge, New York.
Estate of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. (MBR, 740 Park Avenue), 22 June 1971.
David Rockefeller purchased from Estate.

Special notice

This Lot is transferred to Christie’s Redstone Post-Sale Facility in Long Island City after 5.00 pm on the last day of the sale. They will be available at Redstone on the following Monday. Property may be transferred at Christie’s discretion following the sale and we advise that you contact Purchaser Payments on +1 212 636 2495 to confirm your property’s location at any given time. On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. This is a lot where Christie’s holds a direct financial guarantee interest.

Brought to you by

General Enquiries

rockefeller@christies.com +1 212 636 2000

Lot Essay

This exuberantly carved tripod table is possibly the work of Paul Saunders of Soho Square, London, one of the preeminent cabinet-makers of the 1750s and 60s, who was supplying furniture to Holkham Hall (Norfolk), Woburn Abbey (Bedfordshire) and Petworth House (West Sussex). At Holkham, two sets of dining-chairs, probably supplied by Saunders in circa 1757 to Sir Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, display exuberant carving of acanthus foliage clasped in a band in a similar fashion to that featured on the supports of the present table (respectively illustrated R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, vol. I, London, 1954, p. 275, fig. 155; A. Coleridge, 'Some Mid-Georgian Cabinet-Makers at Holkham', Apollo, February 1964, pp. 122-123, fig. 2). Saunders customarily features a shallow cross-hatched ground as seen on a set of eight giltwood chairs possibly by the craftsman, and supplied to Sir Matthew Fetherstonhaugh as part of the refurnishing and redecoration of Uppark House West Sussex in the 1750s (NT.137632). Similar carving is also found on ‘The Grosvenor daybed’, attributed to Saunders, sold Christie’s, London, 14 November 2013, lot 50. Both of these examples include lively scrolled ‘French’ feet and acanthus leaves.
The overall design is probably derived from a Chippendale model; ‘Paul Saunders, upholsterer’ was a subscriber to the 1st edition of the Director (1754).
Related tripod tables include:
-‘The Samuel Messer Collection’, Christie’s, London, 5 December 1991, lot 79.
- Christie’s, London, 16 November 1955, lot 182, and later, 22 November 1962, lot 94.
- Christie’s, London, 20 November 1952, lot 112.

More from The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller: English & European Furniture, Ceramics and Decorations, Part I

View All