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Lot Essay
This handsome George III leather-topped writing-table would have been commissioned for the library created at Corsham Court, Wiltshire by Paul Methuen (d. 1795) following his planned aggrandisement of the ancient mansion in the late 1750s with the assistance of the architect Henry Keene (d. 1776) (C. Hussey, English Country Houses: Early Georgian, London, 1955, p. 230, fig. 417). Its gothic-fretted brackets were intended to harmonise with the room's gothic stuccoed cornice, and its mahogany bookcases, whose temple-pediments were likewise ribbon-fretted in the fashion that was popularised by Thomas Chippendale's publication of his, Gentleman and Cabinet-Makers Director, 1754-1762). The reed-moulded table, with its gothic-chamfered leg and ribbon-fretted brackets, relates in particular to a Chippendale table pattern engraved in 1753 (ibid., pl. LVI).
The Methuen family in the early 20th century claimed that Chippendale accounts existed for the furnishing of Corsham. This fine quality mahogany table, with its brass locks, handles and castors was possibly supplied by Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) for Corsham, and relates to other furniture supplied to Nostell Priory, Yorkshire and Paxton House by the celebrated cabinet-maker of St. Martin's Lane (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, figs. 398 & 406).
The Methuen family in the early 20th century claimed that Chippendale accounts existed for the furnishing of Corsham. This fine quality mahogany table, with its brass locks, handles and castors was possibly supplied by Thomas Chippendale (d. 1779) for Corsham, and relates to other furniture supplied to Nostell Priory, Yorkshire and Paxton House by the celebrated cabinet-maker of St. Martin's Lane (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, figs. 398 & 406).