BY GILLOWS OF LANCASTER, AFTER A DESIGN BY A.W.N. PUGIN, CIRCA 1850

The writing-table pattern relates to that of Pugin's 'New Palace' table, whose leaf-imbricated pillars corresponded to an 'architect's table' which he designed for his own use in 1835 Report by the Victoria & Albert Museum concerning the furniture in the House of Lords, London, 1974, pl. Vl; and C. Wainwright 'Furniture' Chapter XIII of M.H. Port, The Houses of Parliament, London, 1976 p. 197). The hexagonal pillars match those of his standard House of Lords chairs of the 1840s (Report, pl. I), and feature in a related late 1840s tracing of Pugin's design for a table that survives in the House of Lords Record Office (ibid., fig. 192). A writing table executed to the latter design circa 1850 has been attributed to the Bond Street cabinet-maker John Webb (ibid., fig. 197). A sketch for a related three-drawer table supplied to Ferguson & Co., London, features in the Gillow Estimate Sketch Book, 20 March 1852 (no. 5821).

A closely related table was sold from the Estate of Miss Edith Marjorie Graves-Knyfton, Uphill Manor, Weston-super-Mare, Greenslade Hunt Fine Art Auctioneers, 11 December 1992, lot 771.