.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The lozenge parquetry design of this serpentine top is characteristic of the work of Henry Hill of Marlborough (1741-1777). Hill courted many significant West Country clients, including the Duke of Somerset at Maiden Bradley, the Earl of Radnor at Longford Castle and Lord Methuen at Corsham Court, Wiltshire. Included in the furniture Hill supplied to Paul Methuen in the 1760's and 1770's are two mahogany Pembroke tables whose tops display the same large-scale lozenge parquetry design of this table's top (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 67-68). Another local house, Littlecote, also contains a supper table and a card table by Hill, each displaying this characteristic surface pattern (ibid., p. 69). A Pembroke table attributed to Hill featuring the same lozenge-patterned top, was sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 21 April 2005, lot 238.
A satinwood and ebony commode, also attributed to Hill, now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, also displays a similar parquetry top with distinctive star-shaped lozenge inlay, though it also incorporates the additional feature of interspersed floral marquetry (ibid., no. 4, p. 64-73). Lucy Wood attributes this commode to Hill on the basis of the treatment of the top and the distinctive apron profile, also seen in other commodes associated with Hill. Wood identifies the lozenge parquetry design to be a 'speciality' of Hill's. The serpentine-shaped form of the marquetry commode's top and this table are further linked by their similar round-edged corners.
A side table attributed to Hill (sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 9 July 1992, lot 66) also features the distinctive large lozenge-patterned top, and like the Leverhulme commode, it is further embellished with floral marquetry, here incorporated as a centralised motif. Meanwhile, the fluted turned tapering legs of the latter side table and the present serving-table both incorporate lotus motifs at their bases. The shared elements between these two tables and the Leverhulme commode suggest that this serving-table is a strong candidate for an attribution to Henry Hill.
William Hesketh Lever (d. 1925), later 1st Viscount Leverhulme, acquired the dressing-commode [Wood, no. 4] from D. L Isaacs, on 6 May 1915 (ibid., p. 64). This serving-table is therefore one of at least two Henry Hill pieces collected by Lever. The fragmentary label on the underside is of a type used by cataloguers of the Leverhulme collection.
A satinwood and ebony commode, also attributed to Hill, now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, also displays a similar parquetry top with distinctive star-shaped lozenge inlay, though it also incorporates the additional feature of interspersed floral marquetry (ibid., no. 4, p. 64-73). Lucy Wood attributes this commode to Hill on the basis of the treatment of the top and the distinctive apron profile, also seen in other commodes associated with Hill. Wood identifies the lozenge parquetry design to be a 'speciality' of Hill's. The serpentine-shaped form of the marquetry commode's top and this table are further linked by their similar round-edged corners.
A side table attributed to Hill (sold anonymously, in these Rooms, 9 July 1992, lot 66) also features the distinctive large lozenge-patterned top, and like the Leverhulme commode, it is further embellished with floral marquetry, here incorporated as a centralised motif. Meanwhile, the fluted turned tapering legs of the latter side table and the present serving-table both incorporate lotus motifs at their bases. The shared elements between these two tables and the Leverhulme commode suggest that this serving-table is a strong candidate for an attribution to Henry Hill.
William Hesketh Lever (d. 1925), later 1st Viscount Leverhulme, acquired the dressing-commode [Wood, no. 4] from D. L Isaacs, on 6 May 1915 (ibid., p. 64). This serving-table is therefore one of at least two Henry Hill pieces collected by Lever. The fragmentary label on the underside is of a type used by cataloguers of the Leverhulme collection.