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Lot Essay
The overall form of these serpentine card tables corresponds to a pair supplied in 1759 by Thomas Chippendale (1718 - 79), en suite with a set of seat-furniture, to William, 5th Earl of Dumfries for Dumfries House, Ayrshire (C. Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. I, p. 138; vol. II, p. 220, fig. 402). Although the present tables cannot be ascribed to Chippendale, they were evidently made by a cabinet-maker who subscribed to the Director or, at least, was very familiar with Chippendale’s work. The subscribers to the Director, published in the front of the pattern book as a form of marketing, comprised a mix of titled nobility, gentry, professionals, cabinet-makers and upholsterers, the latter including Wright & Elwick, William Ince and Paul Saunders, and included a significant number of Scottish craftsmen. These included Alexander Peter, an Edinburgh ‘wright’, employed in the same period as Chippendale at Dumfries House where he created a range of plain and restrained furniture perfectly suited to Lord Dumfries’s private apartments (‘Dumfries House’, Christie's sale catalogue, 12-13 July 2007, lot 126, 169, 278). A further two card tables of related form and carving were almost certainly acquired by James Montgomery, 1st Bt. of Stanhope and descended in the Montgomery family at Stobo and Kinross House, sold Christie’s, London, 30 March 2011, lots 78 and 79. Coincidentally both also bore hinges stamped ‘H. TIBATS’.
H. TIBATS
Many fine pieces of mid-18th Century case furniture, particularly card tables, have ‘H. TIBATS’ stamped on their hinges. The stamp almost certainly refers to ‘Hugh Tibbatts’, ‘hinge and sash fastening maker’ of Bell Street Wolverhampton, listed relatively late in the 1781 Pearson & Rollason Directory for Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Bilston and Willenhall. There appears to be no mention of ‘Tibats’, ‘Tibbats’ or ‘Tibbatts’ (the spelling of the name varies) in the West Midlands area after 1781. That the stamp appears on pieces of earlier date suggests the business was probably long-established. A concertina-action card table, circa 1755-60, with quadrant hinges stamped ‘H. Tibats’ is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (W.65:1-1962). The name ‘Tibats’ was first brought to notice in 1966 by Peter Thornton, although at this date the origins of the maker had not been established (P. Thornton, ‘A Signed Hinge’, Furniture History Society, vol. 2, 1966, pp. 44-45).
H. TIBATS
Many fine pieces of mid-18th Century case furniture, particularly card tables, have ‘H. TIBATS’ stamped on their hinges. The stamp almost certainly refers to ‘Hugh Tibbatts’, ‘hinge and sash fastening maker’ of Bell Street Wolverhampton, listed relatively late in the 1781 Pearson & Rollason Directory for Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Bilston and Willenhall. There appears to be no mention of ‘Tibats’, ‘Tibbats’ or ‘Tibbatts’ (the spelling of the name varies) in the West Midlands area after 1781. That the stamp appears on pieces of earlier date suggests the business was probably long-established. A concertina-action card table, circa 1755-60, with quadrant hinges stamped ‘H. Tibats’ is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (W.65:1-1962). The name ‘Tibats’ was first brought to notice in 1966 by Peter Thornton, although at this date the origins of the maker had not been established (P. Thornton, ‘A Signed Hinge’, Furniture History Society, vol. 2, 1966, pp. 44-45).