LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY METAMORPHIC PEMBROKE TABLE AND LIBRARY STEPS
LATE 18TH CENTURY
Inlaid overall with fruitwood and ebonised lines, the rounded rectangular hinged twin-flap top with a simulated frieze drawer to each end, enclosing a set of six tread mahogany library steps, with a removable serpentine later banister post, on square tapering legs, brass caps and later castors, the main step hinges replaced and repositioned
42¾ in. (108.5 cm.) wide, open; 27½ in (70 cm.) high, closed; 49 in. (124.5 cm.) high, open; 33 in. (84 cm.) deep

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Christie's, London, 13 November 1997, lot 53.

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.

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Lot Essay

The Pembroke table's construction and shaped steps incorporated in its hinged top correspond to that of other library-tables of the 1780's bearing the inscribed tablet of François Hervé, while established in Tottenham Court Road between 1783 and 1796 (C. Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, p. 265). A related 'harlequin' table pattern for 'Library Steps and Table' patented by Robert Campbell in 1774 was popularised by its publication in Thomas Sheraton's The Cabinet-maker and Upholsterer's Drawing-Book, issued in parts 1791-4 (Gilbert, op.cit., p. 34).

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