Thomas Sheraton in his The Cabinet Dictionary, London, 1803 noted that the 'Deception' pembroke table answered the purpose of a pot cupboard. The table's rectangular handle was a form favoured in the 1790s by the firm Gillows of London and Lancaster, whose Estimate Sketch Book for 1787 featured a related type of deception table (L. Boynton, (ed.), Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, fig. 28).