CIRCA 1755

细节

A GEORGE II ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY READING TABLE
CIRCA 1755
The hinged rectangular top with four brass holes for book rest, enclosing a double-ratcheted mechanism with pierced bracket supports above a secretaire-drawer with a sliding leather-lined writing-surface and a fitted interior and a sliding right-hand compartment, the sides each with panelled slides, revealing circular brass candle-slides above square chamfered legs, on scrolling acanthus feet, originally with casters, the reading stop and one brass candle-slide replaced
30 in. (76 cm.) high, 28 in. (71 cm.) wide, 17¾ in. (45 cm.) deep

来源

with David Drey, Ltd., London, circa 1958.
The Property of a Gentleman; Christie's, London, 3 July 1997, lot 6.
with Pelham Galleries, London.

出版

The Art Treasures Exhibition Hand Book, May 1958, illustrated pl. 52, no. 285.

展览

Bath, The Octagon Room, The Art Treasures Exhibition, The British Antique Dealer's Association, 29 May - 7 June 1958, exhibited by David Drey Ltd, no. 285, pl. 52.

拍品专文

This multi-purpose table is designed in the George II 'antique' manner, with its reed-cornered legs terminating in whorled feet wrapped by Roman acanthus. The top is fitted with a hinged, spring-operated and ratchet-support 'desk' for music or reading, together with sliding trays at the sides and circular brass 'conveniences for candlesticks' turned under the front corners. The writing-drawer, with leathered slide, conceals a small pen-tray drawer opening from the right side. As appropriate for the table's additional role as a tea-tray stand, it is fitted with a 'Chinese' pattern escutcheon-plate representing a pagoda in a fret-railed garden. This 'picturesque' handle features in a page of circa 1765-1770 of the Brassfounders Catalogue at the Victoria and Albert Museum (no. 9859), illustrated in R. Gentle and R. Feild, Domestic Metalwork 1640-1820, London, 1994, p. 216, pl. 7.

The metamorphic nature of this table is reminiscent of the work of the Neuwied cabinet-maker, Abraham Roentgen (d.1793), who was working with a number of London craftsmen including William Gomm (Gern) of Newcastle House, St. John's Square (The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986 p.349). Its involuted feet also relate to that of a richly carved and brass-enriched sideboard-table that was formerly at Vale Royal, Cheshire (C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch, ed., John Channon and Brass-Inlaid Furniture, London, 1993, pl. XIV-XVI).