ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, CIRCA 1810

This elegant table is conceived in the French antique manner promoted by the connoisseur Thomas Hope and illustrated in his London mansion museum guide Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807). With its 'Apollo' Grecian-lyre trestles, star handles, arched stretcher and hinged rounded ends, it relates to sofa tables and games-tables popularised by Gillows in the first quarter of the 19th century. A pair of sofa games tables of this pattern was commissioned by Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson (1767-1818) for the library at Shugborough, Staffordshire, in the early 19th century, when alterations were being carried out by the architect Samuel Wyatt (d. 1807).
A games table of this model attributed to Gillows was sold Christie's, London, 2 May 2002, lot 32 (£17,925 including premium), another was sold Lyons Demesne: Works of Art from the Collection of the late Dr. Tony Ryan, Christie's, London, 14 July 2011, lot 116 (£21,250 including premium).