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Lot Essay
The sideboard table's patera and husk-festooned tablet relate to patterns for sideboards illustred in A. Hepplewhite & Co., The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788.
The case bears the ink inscription 'J. Bell' who is probably the maker of the piece along with a notation of its original cost. While there are numerous cabinet-makers of this name recorded, particularly in York and Co. Durham, the maker may possibly be a John Bell of Petergate, Yorkshire, active from around 1771 until his death in 1786 (Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p.61).
The case bears the ink inscription 'J. Bell' who is probably the maker of the piece along with a notation of its original cost. While there are numerous cabinet-makers of this name recorded, particularly in York and Co. Durham, the maker may possibly be a John Bell of Petergate, Yorkshire, active from around 1771 until his death in 1786 (Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p.61).