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Lot Essay
This living-room centre-table evolved from the Roman-fashioned 'pillar and claw' octagonal 'loo' table illustrated in Thomas Sheraton's, Cabinet Encyclopaedia, 1804-8, pl. 40). Its 'altar' plinth-supported and antique-fluted pillar evokes lyric poetry with its eagle-winged and lion-pawed monopodia derived from Apollo's sacred griffin. An 1805 pattern for a Grecian 'chaise longue' issued in George Smith's, Collection of Designs for Household Furniture, 1808 (pl. 65) also featured similar feet.
A similar 'pillar and claw' features on a table, that may have been amongst furniture supplied for Normanton Park, Rutland by Thomas Chippendale Junior (d. 1822), who was patronised by the Heathcote family for over half a century (M. Jourdain, Regency Furniture 1795-1830, London, 1965, rev. ed., fig. 172).
A similar library table with drawers in the frieze was sold from the collection of Lord and Lady White of Hull, Christie's New York, 30 April 1997, lot 40 ($46,000).
A similar 'pillar and claw' features on a table, that may have been amongst furniture supplied for Normanton Park, Rutland by Thomas Chippendale Junior (d. 1822), who was patronised by the Heathcote family for over half a century (M. Jourdain, Regency Furniture 1795-1830, London, 1965, rev. ed., fig. 172).
A similar library table with drawers in the frieze was sold from the collection of Lord and Lady White of Hull, Christie's New York, 30 April 1997, lot 40 ($46,000).