Lot Essay
This pier table is designed in the robust George IV style promoted by designers such as George Smith. His The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1826, illustrates related truss-scrolled pier tables with deep scrolling acanthus leaves at the tops of the legs, mirrored backs and foliate-enriched friezes (E. Joy, Pictorial Dictionary of British 19th Century Furniture Design, Woodbridge, 1977, p. 541). Pier tables with scrolled truss legs and mirrored backs can be seen in Morel and Seddon's design for Room 188 at Windsor Castle, circa 1826 (H. Roberts, For the King's Pleasure, The Furnishing and Decoration of George IV's Apartments at Windsor Castle, London, 2001, p. 86, fig. 62). The distinctive foliate collar on the legs can be seen on the rear legs of the suite of seat furniture formerly in the saloon at Devonshire House, London (J. Fowler and J. Cornforth, English Decoration in the 18th Century, London, 1978, p. 49, fig. 27, pl. VI).