ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, THIRD QUARTER 18TH CENTURY

Details

A GEORGE III SABICU AND MARQUETRY TRAY
ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, THIRD QUARTER 18TH CENTURY
Of oval form with waved solid ebonised gallery, with mahogany crossbanded edge centred by a shell
1½ in. (4 cm.) high; 28 in. (71 cm.) wide; 20¾ in. (52.5 cm.) diameter

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

The tray inlaid with a shell with wave-scalloped rail, corresponds to a pattern in Gillows of Lancaster's Estimate Sketch Book of 1790 for W. Feilden, Blackburn (L. Boynton, Gillows Furniture Designs 1760-1800, Royston, 1996, fig. 240). It reflects the Roman Etruscan fashion for shell decoration popularised by G. B. Piranesi's, Diverse manieri d'’adornari i cammini, Rome, 1769. Similar shell medallions feature on pier card-tables supplied in the 1770s for a Drawing Room decorated by Robert 'Bob the Roman' Adam (d. 1792) at Newby Hall, Yorkshire (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, 1978, vol. II, fig. 496). Gillows of Lancaster also introduced similar shell medallions on two commodes supplied in 1788 for Arbury Hall, Warwickshire (now displayed at Somerset House).

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