CIRCA 1730, ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE NIX

'India' or 'Japan' tea tables occur frequently in 18th Century domestic inventories and the term applies equally to a tray or a tray on a frame or stand. By 1720, the frames made for these tables had become more or less standardised and this table is almost identical to that supplied by George Nix for Ham House, London in 1730. Nix's bill runs ...ffor a Black Japann'd frame for an Indian Tea Table & gilding & mending the table where it was broke...£1.5.0'. Nix had therefore made a frame for an existing lacquer tray - as here - although he also supplied japanned tables and frames complete: '...ffor a new large Japanned tea Table £2.12.0'. The Ham table is discussed in A. Bowett, 'Some Chinese Influences on early Georgian Furniture', Antique Collector's Club, 2007, fig.1. Interestingly, the unusual construction of the lift-off top on the Sainsbury table is derived from gilt-gesso tables in the manner of James Moore.