BY DAVID EDWARDS

Details

A REGENCY MAHOGANY EXTENDING DINING-TABLE
By David Edwards
Comprising two rounded rectangular ends, each on a rectangular support with reeded outscrolled legs, with concertina action extending to enclose four leaves on ring-turned tapering legs, with brass caps and castors, ten brass clips, with two inset brass plaques inscribed 'EDWARDS PATENT NE PLUS ULTRA DIEU ET MON DROIT', two leaves later, these and another leaf with repaired splits, the concertina action with later sections, the end sections with 2¾ in. (7 cm.) later strips
29 in. (73.5 cm.) high; 51¾ in. (131.5 cm.) wide; 156 in. /13 ft. (396 cm.) long, fully extended;
two leaves: 25 in. (63.5 cm.) long;
one leaf: 24¾ in. (63 cm.) long;
one leaf: 24½ in. (62 cm.) long (4)

Literature

C. Jones, Colefax & Fowler - The Best in English Interior Decoration, New York, London, a.o., 3rd edn., 1998, p. 182 (illustrated).

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The die-stamped patent label of the King Street cabinet-maker David Edwards (d. 1848) appears in similar reed-framed tablets on the trestle pillars of other tables with Grecian-scrolled 'claws' (C. Gilbert, The Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, figs. 310-312).
This form of expanding table has been named a 'Cumberland' table, possibly after Cumberland Lodge, Windsor. In the early 1820's Edwards is listed in George IV's Household Accounts, which are now preserved in the Windsor Archives (C. Gilbert and G. Beard, The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 269).

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