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Lot Essay
This table was almost certainly in the collection of the 5th Earl and Countess of Craven at Combe Abbey, Warwickshire; an identical table was photographed in the 'Drawing Room', and appeared in the 1929 edition of In English Homes (C. Latham, 'Combe Abbey, Warwickshire', In English Homes, London, 1929, vol. I, p. 303). Although the table does not feature in subsequent sales of the property of the family, it seems likely that as a Craven heirloom it would have moved with the family to Hamstead Marshall, Buckinghamshire following the sale of Combe Abbey and its contents in 1923. It is part of a distinguished group of furniture of the 1750s and early 1760s, which was acquired during the residency of the 4th Baron Craven (d. 1764), who patronised the very best London cabinet-makers in this period, including John Cobb and John Linnell.
Designed in the Louis XV `picturesque' manner, with its rusticated Gothic arcades and floral garlands, this table is inspired by patterns for tables by Matthias Lock, as published in Six Tables (1746), which, along with his other publications, epitomise the advanced early Rococo style of English furniture, some ten years before Chippendale's first edition. Lock had designed and made important items of carved furniture for Earl Paulet, Hinton House, Dorset and was described by James Cullen as `reputed the best draftsman in that way that had ever been in England'. The fashion persisted into the 1750's and 60's; closely related designs are included in William Ince and John Mayhew’s The Universal System of Household Furniture (1762), plates LXXIII and LXXIV , both described as ‘slab frames’ and Lock appears to have enjoyed a close working relationship with Thomas Chippendale.
A pair of similarly Gothicised console tables of smaller size and with later japanned tops was in the collection of The Hon. Mrs. Daisy Fellowes at Donnington Grove, Berkshire, sold Christie’s, London, 19 November 2010, lot 549 (£27,500 including premium).
Designed in the Louis XV `picturesque' manner, with its rusticated Gothic arcades and floral garlands, this table is inspired by patterns for tables by Matthias Lock, as published in Six Tables (1746), which, along with his other publications, epitomise the advanced early Rococo style of English furniture, some ten years before Chippendale's first edition. Lock had designed and made important items of carved furniture for Earl Paulet, Hinton House, Dorset and was described by James Cullen as `reputed the best draftsman in that way that had ever been in England'. The fashion persisted into the 1750's and 60's; closely related designs are included in William Ince and John Mayhew’s The Universal System of Household Furniture (1762), plates LXXIII and LXXIV , both described as ‘slab frames’ and Lock appears to have enjoyed a close working relationship with Thomas Chippendale.
A pair of similarly Gothicised console tables of smaller size and with later japanned tops was in the collection of The Hon. Mrs. Daisy Fellowes at Donnington Grove, Berkshire, sold Christie’s, London, 19 November 2010, lot 549 (£27,500 including premium).