Sir John Leicester (d.1827), Baron de Tabley, acquired large quantities of furniture in the 1810's from Gillows of Lancaster and London. His ancestor Sir Peter Byrne Leicester (d.1770) is thought to have employed Thomas Chippendale (d.1779) in the 1760's and it would have later been considered suitable to buy furniture for the house that relates to his 'China table' and 'China case' patterns published in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754, pls.LI and CXXXIII. It is known that Gillows were manufacturing Chippendale-type 'China tables' as late as 1786 because the pattern is illustrated in the E.S sketch book for September 1786, no.417. If they were manufacturing such tables in the mid-1780s it seems likely that they would have been able to do so when there was a revived interest in the furniture styles of the 1750's.