Lot Essay
This table, with its shaped top and shell-headed cabriole legs with claw-and-ball feet and with the same arrangement of cabriole and turned legs, is closely related to a walnut card-table by Benjamin Crook of St. Paul's Church Yard that was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 15 April 1999, lot 107 (£56,500). Benjamin Crook is recorded in St Paul's Churchyard from 1732-1748. The latter table had been in the collection of the distinguished furniture collector, Percival D. Griffiths, F.S.A., by 1924 and was sold by his Executors, Christie's, London, 10 May 1939, lot 202 (illustrated). It was also included in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, 1924-7, rev. ed., 1954, p. 155 (under Crook). A table with turned legs was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 27 November 2003, lot 49 (£16,730).