A REGENCY BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD WRITING-TABLE
A REGENCY BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD WRITING-TABLE
A REGENCY BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD WRITING-TABLE
A REGENCY BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD WRITING-TABLE
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Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more
A REGENCY BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD WRITING-TABLE

AFTER A DESIGN BY GEORGE SMITH, CIRCA 1820

Details
A REGENCY BRASS-MOUNTED ROSEWOOD WRITING-TABLE
AFTER A DESIGN BY GEORGE SMITH, CIRCA 1820
The crossbanded top of breakfront outline with bowed end, with a panel of late tooled blue leather framed by a brass edge containing three drawers with beaded brass edges and associated anthemion escutcheons in the frieze, repeated to the reverse, on ebonised lion monopodiae legs with scroll knees and paw feet on fluted pads and anti-friction leather castors, restorations and redecorated
29½ in. (75 cm.) high; 74 in. (188 cm.) wide; 41 in. (104 cm.) deep
Provenance
Christopher Howe - The First Twenty Years; sold Christie's, South Kensington, 24 March 2004, lot 100.
Special notice
Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country. This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Brought to you by

Peter Horwood
Peter Horwood

Lot Essay

Related palm-flowered leopard monopodia feature on a writing-table pattern and a library table pattern both of 1804, published in George Smith's Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London, 1808, pls. 83 and 87.

Variant designs for lion monopodiae featured in Charles Heathcote Tatham's Etchings representing fragments of Antique Grecian and Roman Architectural Ornament originally published in 1799 and republished in 1806, 1826 and again in 1843 by J.B. Nichols -including a design for an 'Antique Tripod of oriental alabaster from the collection in the Museum of the Vatican' which represents a related prototype. These were refined in Thomas Hope’s Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, pl.32 and others.

A plinth-supported table of this pattern probably formed part of the furnishings supplied by Gillows of London and Lancaster to Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby (d. 1803) for Sandon Park, Staffordshire (illustrated in C. Aslet and M. Hall, 'Sandon Hall, Staffordshire', Country Life, 13 June 1991, p. 177, fig. 6), whilst a further closely related Regency table with mahogany-lined drawers was sold from the Coke Colletion, Jenkyn Place, Christie's London, 17 October 1996, lot 57 (£144,500). The attribution of this overall model to Gillows is further strengthened by the fact that the monopodium pattern featured on a documented Grecian sofa supplied circa 1805 by Gillows of Oxford Street, to Colonel Hughes for Kinmel Park, Denbighshire (sold from the collection of Mr. Edward Sarofim, Christie's London, 16 November 1995, lot 143), while a side table featuring the same monopodiae and hence attributed to Gillows is illustrated in Susan Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730 – 1840, Woodbridge, 2008, vol. II, p.96, pl.643.

Whilst extremely well made, the substantial oak construction of this table, with oak-lined drawers and convex quarter fillets, as well as the heavier, monumental lion monopodiae all point to a slightly later date in the second quarter of the 19th Century, probably around the time that George Smith's second book of patterns The Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Guide was published in 1826.

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