ONE GEORGE III, THE OTHER SUPPLIED BY PIERRE DELBÉE OF MAISON JANSEN, PARIS, CIRCA 1965

Details

A PAIR OF ENGLISH WHITE AND POLYCHROMED-JAPANNED CARD TABLES
One George III, the other supplied by Pierre Delbée of Maison Jansen, Paris, circa 1965
The George III gateleg-action card table with hinged serpentine-fronted top enclosing a yellow baize-lined playing-surface, the top decorated overall with Chinoiserie island landscapes with temples, pagodas, boats and pontoons with cranes and ducks, within a geometric foliate border with simulated bamboo edge, the frieze similarly decorated with hexagonal and octagonal landscape panels on simulated bamboo tapering legs headed by pierced angle brackets and on pad feet,
the later table decorated en suite but constructed as an open card table with yellow felt-lined playing-surface,
the George III table decorated onto a mahogany ground and the varnish now discoloured to yellow
The George III table - 29¼in. (74.5cm.) high; 40½in. (103cm.) wide; 20in. (51cm.) deep
The later table - 28½in. (72.5cm.) high; 40in. (102cm.) wide (2)

Provenance

For the George III table - Adrian Darby Esq., Kemerton Court, Gloucestershire, sold Sotheby's London, 5 April 1963, lot 147.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

The George III table-top, elegantly serpentined in the 1760s fashion, has tapering columnar legs terminating in circular feet, then described as 'round toes' by Gillows. Its bamboo framing and mosaiced frieze corresponds to table patterns in William Chambers', Designs of Chinese Buildings, Furniture, etc, London, 1757; while its combination of bamboo with Chinese landscape vignettes relates to the bedroom apartment furnishings, accompanying a chintz-hung bed that was supplied for David Garrick's Hampton villa around 1770 by Thomas Chippendale (d.1779) (M. Tomlin, Catalogue of Adam Period Furniture, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982, Group 0; C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, fig 46).

Related pieces with apparently identical decoration and therefore possibly originally forming part of the same suite, are recorded. These comprise a commode illustrated in P. Macquoid, The Age of Satinwood, London, 1908, p.32, fig.26, a pembroke table sold at Sotheby's New York, 23 January 1998, lot 438 and a side table sold at Sotheby's London, 16 July 1982, lot 178.

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