LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details

A GEORGE III SATINWOOD, HAREWOOD AND MARQUETRY CARD-TABLE
Late 18th century
Crossbanded overall in tulipwood, the semi-circular hinged top inlaid with a central shell flanked by ribbon-tied husk swags enclosed in a foliate and C-scroll border, enclosing a brown baize-lined playing-surface, above a husk-swagged frieze, on square tapering legs inlaid with husks and pinched feet, repairs to feet, the curved stays of the gateleg-action later, restorations
29¼ in. (74 cm.) high; 38 in. (96.5 cm.) wide; 17 in. (43 cm.) deep

Provenance

R. M. Broadhead, Esq., sold in these Rooms, 9 April 1981, lot 71.

Special notice

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

Lot Essay

The elliptic table-top is inlaid with a laurel-festooned lunette displaying a conch-shell and relates closely to the top of a Pembroke table, which has been attributed to Mayhew and Ince (sold Christies New York, 24-25 January 2001, lot 553). Etruscan fashioned shell ornament was promoted by G. B. Piranesi's, Diverse manieri d'addornare i cammini, 1769. Such shell-like forms feature for instance on a pier table supplied in 1783 by the Bond Street cabinet-maker Charles Elliott (d. 1808). It was also adopted in 1788 by the firm of Gillows of London and Lancaster, who introduced it in their Estimate Sketch Books designs for pier and Pembroke tables (Charles Elliott, 'Royal Cabinet-maker', Connoisseur, June 1959, pp. 34-39; L. Boynton, Gillow Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1995, figs. 13, 14 and 60).

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