These elegant pier-tables can be attributed to Thomas Chippendale (d.1779), cabinet-maker of St. Martin's Lane and author of the famous 'Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Directors, 1754-63. The demi-sunflowers, which are placed at the back of each top so that their form can be completed by reflection in accompanying pier-glasses, are inspired by an engraving from Robert Wood's Palmyra, 1753 of a ceiling of a temple dedicated to Apollo, the God of Poetry. The poet's ribbon-tied medallion, garlanded with laurels, appears on the frieze of each table, whose marquetry epitomises the 'antique' of French goût grèc style, which Chippendale had learned from George III's architects Sir William Chambers (1723-96) and Robert Adam (1728-92). Various features, including the medallion accompanied by spiralled rosettes and Grecian palmettes, can be found on one of his 1770's 'frieze' designs for Burton Constable, Yorkshire. This is illustrated C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, pl. 26, together with a pair of pier tables bearing Apollo's medallion, (pl. 501), which the cabinet-maker supplied for the house in the late 1770's. A related pair of pier tables, also bearing a medallion, was supplied for Harewood House, Yorkshire, at this time (pl.503). In view of Chippendale's liking for designing furniture en suite for an apartment, it is tempting to unite these pier tables with Chippendale's 'lady's secretaire', now at Harewood House (op.cit. pl. 96). The medallion on the fall-front of the latter displays, beneath a laurel festooned frieze, a reclining figure emblematic of the Liberal Art of Poetry. This is framed by palmettes accompanied by spiral rosettes, while the side panels are inlaid with similar Apollo medallions to those on the tables.