A NEST OF FOUR REGENCY BRASS-INLAID CALAMANDER, EBONY AND EBONIZED QUARTETTO TABLES

BY GEORGE OAKLEY, CIRCA 1815

Details

A NEST OF FOUR REGENCY BRASS-INLAID CALAMANDER, EBONY AND EBONIZED QUARTETTO TABLES
By George Oakley, circa 1815
Each rectangular top centering a rectangular panel within a star-inlaid surround, on dual turned legs and splayed feet joined by a curved stretcher
29in. (74cm.) high, 18in. (46cm.) wide, 12in. (31cm.) deep, the largest (4)

Provenance

Supplied in 1810 to Charles Madryll Cheere of Papworth Hall, Cambridgeshire.
Thence by descent to Mrs. Stileman.
Christie's London, 9 April 1992, lot 109.

Literature

M.Jourdain and R.Fastnedge, Regency Furniture 1795-1830, rev.edn., London, 1965, p.69, fig.145 (in earlier editions, p.117, figs.116 and 117).
C. Gilbert and G. Beard, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p.660.

Lot Essay

This nest of tables with calamander panels and brass star inlay are distinctively the work of the firm of George Oakley, which produced fashionable furniture in the Grecian style in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Listed at various locations from 1789 to 1819, the firm's popular designs and quality craftsmanship earned them royal patronage in addition to private commissions.

Supplied to Charles Madryll Cheere at Papworth Hall, these tables originate from a primary commission of Oakley's career, from which a number of other examples are known. A card table supplied for Papworth Hall and also inherited by Mrs. Stileman, also in calamander inlaid with brass stars and ebony, is illustrated in R. Edwards, ed., The Dictionary of English Furniture, vol. III, Woodbridge, 1954, p. 202, fig. 42.