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Lot Essay
This form of parlour pier-table with hinged leg and ingenious fitments serving as tea, card and writing-table, earned itself the name 'Harlequin' after the Comedia del Arte's master-of-disguises. Its pattern features on a George II cabinet-maker's design-sheet alongside fifteen other functional hinged and ratcheted items, ideally suited to West End apartments. The sheet, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (E2320-1889) bears the name 'Potter London', who may be identified with the Thomas Potter listed in partnership with John Kelsey in a 1738 account at Stourhead, Wiltshire (see G.Beard and C.Gilbert, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1986). Potter's inscription on the design-sheet appears on a medal-cabinet that derives from this design now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (see D. FitzGerald, Georgian FUrniture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1969, fig.37).
A related brass-inlaid table attributed to John Channon was offered by the Executors of the late Colonel William Stirling of Keir, Christie's London, 15 November 1990, lot 59. Another was sold anonymously, Christie's London, 25 February 1993, lot 117.
A related brass-inlaid table attributed to John Channon was offered by the Executors of the late Colonel William Stirling of Keir, Christie's London, 15 November 1990, lot 59. Another was sold anonymously, Christie's London, 25 February 1993, lot 117.