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Lot Essay
The golden sofa-table is embellished with Grecian-black inlay, in a fashion that George Smith refers to as a 'noble pursuit after classic originals'. Its frieze pattern, displaying triumphal palm-flowered lozenge compartments in Grecian-fretted tablets, features in a design for a Grecian-pedimented wardrobe in Smith's Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808, pl.133. Smith wrote of such 'Sofa Tables' as suitable 'furniture for the Drawing Room, Breakfast Parlor, or Library' and recommended their manufacture in 'mahogany, rose, or satin woods'. He also wrote of a related 'Library Table' that 'the ornamental part of the drawers is intended as an inlay of ebony' (Smith, op.cit., pls.84 and 87).
A closely related sofa table by the same cabinet-maker with virtually identical supports was sold anonymously, Christie's London, 20 November 1986, lot 156 (£17,600). A pair of library tables of the same character inlay and possibly from the same workshop was offered Christie's London, 10 April 1986, lot 112.
A closely related sofa table by the same cabinet-maker with virtually identical supports was sold anonymously, Christie's London, 20 November 1986, lot 156 (£17,600). A pair of library tables of the same character inlay and possibly from the same workshop was offered Christie's London, 10 April 1986, lot 112.