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Lot Essay
With its pierced Gothick cusped stretcher, this table forms part of the 'Gothick' furnishings commissioned by Sir William FitzHerbert to complement his 'Batty' Langley fireplace carved for the Great Hall by Joseph Hall of Derby in 1757. This 'Gothick' phase, almost certainly supplied by John Hobcraft, comprised two suites of Gothick seat-furniture including the Dining Chairs (lot 600), as well as a 'large Mahogany sideboard table', '2 large mahogany therms or pedestals' and 'a mahogany Card table with fretwork frame' - all of which remain at Tissington and are recorded in the 1775 Inventory.
The design derives from Thomas Chippendale's pattern for a 'Breakfast Table' in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754, pl. XXXIII. Chippendale published his highly influential pattern book in three editions from 1754-1762. From 1763 he collaborated with Matthias Darly to produce 161 plates representing 'the most elegant and useful designs of household furniture in the most fashionable taste' and this first folio volume was subscribed to by both patrons and craftsmen in London and the Provinces. Perhaps nowhere is the contemporary influence of Chippendale's pattern book more clearly revealed than at Dumfries House, Ayrshire where both Samuel Smith and Alexander Peter supplied furniture that directly copied Chippendale's Director patterns (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 220, fig. 401).
The design derives from Thomas Chippendale's pattern for a 'Breakfast Table' in The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 1754, pl. XXXIII. Chippendale published his highly influential pattern book in three editions from 1754-1762. From 1763 he collaborated with Matthias Darly to produce 161 plates representing 'the most elegant and useful designs of household furniture in the most fashionable taste' and this first folio volume was subscribed to by both patrons and craftsmen in London and the Provinces. Perhaps nowhere is the contemporary influence of Chippendale's pattern book more clearly revealed than at Dumfries House, Ayrshire where both Samuel Smith and Alexander Peter supplied furniture that directly copied Chippendale's Director patterns (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 220, fig. 401).