ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, CIRCA 1790-1800

細節

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY METAMORPHIC PEMBROKE TABLE AND LIBRARY STEPS
ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, CIRCA 1790-1800
The rounded retangular hinged twin-flap top with a simulated frieze drawer to each end, enclosing a set of eight tread mahogany library steps, with a rotating hinged banister post, on square tapering legs, brass caps and castors, the underside chalked 'ft. in. 3-4/2 1-10} outside'
80 in. (203 cm.) high (overall), 52¾ in. (134 cm.) high (open, to top of steps), 28½ in. (72.5 cm.) high (to table top); 47½ in. (120.5 cm.) wide (twin-flaps open); 61½ in. (156 cm.) deep (open), 42½ in. (108 cm.) deep (closed).

登入

瀏覽狀況報告

拍品專文

The invention of this ingenious table enclosing a set of steps is attributed to Robert Campbell of Seven Dials, London, who patented the design in 1774. A set of library steps supplied in 1777 to Saltram, Devon, bears Campbell's trade label. By 1788 Campbell's patent had expired, allowing rival cabinet-makers to exploit the ingenious design. For the next twenty years, library ladders and steps in a range of shapes, including stools, tables and chairs, were widely produced. Campbell's design was published in Thomas Sheraton's Drawing Book, 1793 (see C.Gilbert, Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, Leeds, 1996, pp.20-21, and p.134, pl.185). Gillows illustrated an almost identical table in their Estimate Sketch Book in 1798. The steps offered here are almost identical to a set at Ardgowan, Renfrewshire, a house furnished by Gillows in 1801, and illustrated in Susan Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 2008, vol. II, p. 108, pl. 655.
A related set of library steps was sold anonymously Christie's, London, 19 November 2009, lot 19 (£27,500 including premium).