Lot Essay
The card-table is veneered with an unusual timber called cocus-wood, a hard, dense wood with a chocolate brown heart and a yellow sapwood, often referred to, erroneously, as laburnum. It was imported from the West Indies and was often known as West Indian ebony. It was used as a cabinet wood between 1660-1740 and in this case the timber has been sawn lengthways to provide a decoratively striped veneer (see A. Bowett, 'Myths of English Furniture History: Laburnum Wood Furniture', Antique Collecting, June 1998, pp. 22-23). A cocus-wood card-table of this form is preserved at Ickworth, Suffolk and is illustrated in R. Edwards, The Shorter Dictionary of English Furniture, 1964, London, p. 519, fig. 7.
A related cocus-wood card table was sold Christie's, London, 25 November 2004, lot 13, and another, from the collection of the late Humphrey Whitbread, Christie's, London, 5 April 2001, lot 365.
A related cocus-wood card table was sold Christie's, London, 25 November 2004, lot 13, and another, from the collection of the late Humphrey Whitbread, Christie's, London, 5 April 2001, lot 365.