ATTRIBUTED TO THOMAS POTTER, CIRCA 1740

This metamorphic 'harlequin' reading and writing-table is designed in the 'Modern' fashion of the 1730's and with its tripod base with pad feet and ratcheted adjustable top separating from the drawered frieze when elevated it closely resembles a design on the trade-sheet issued in the 1730's and inscribed 'Potter London'. Now held at the Victoria and Albert Museum (no.E2320-1889), this trade sheet is almost certainly that of the cabinet-maker Thomas Potter (d.1782), recorded as working in High Holborn in 1737 and thought to have had connections to John Channon, the prominent St Martin's Lane `Cabinet-Maker and Frame-Maker', who supplied expensive brass-enriched furniture for Powderham Castle, Devon in 1740. Potter, working in partnership with John Kelsey, supplied furniture to Sir Richard Colt Hoare for Barn Elms House in 1738 suggesting that they too attracted a wealthy clientele.
A related table attributed to Potter was sold anonymously Christie's, London, 4 July 2002, lot 24 (£22,705 including premium) and was recently acquired by Temple Newsam Museum, Leeds.