ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN AND WILLIAM LINNELL, CIRCA 1760

Details

A GEORGE III PARCEL-GILT MAHOGANY CENTRE TABLE
ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN AND WILLIAM LINNELL, CIRCA 1760
The rectangular pierced everted gallery above a frieze centred by a scallop shell issuing acanthus, on carved acanthus lappeted cabriole legs and pad feet, with chalk date '4 8 84' and G.T & S depository label inscribed '532', with at least two layers of gilding indicating the table was possibly originally gilt
28 ½ in. (72.5 cm.) high; 30 ¼ in. (77 cm.) wide; 21 ¼ in. (54 cm.) deep

Provenance

Almost certainly purchased in Mount Street during the late 1950s.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 23 November 2006, lot 50.

Literature

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE:
H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, vol. I, p. 79. vol. II, pp. 138-139, figs. 273-274.

Special notice

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.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

This pattern of tray-topped table has become one of the most celebrated examples of the Georgian tea-table, whose social importance in George II's reign was registered by its frequent inclusion in the 'Conversation' paintings of William Hogarth (d. 1764) and his contemporaries. At this period, the tables decked with porcelain equipages were a feature of both bedroom apartments and the more formal parlours and withdrawing-rooms.

This tray-topped table is closely related to a circa 1760 design by John Linnell (d. 1796) for a tea-table, now held in the Victoria & Albert Museum (E.238-1929), and illustrated in Hayward & Kirkham’s seminal work on William and John Linnell (London, 1980, vol. II, fig. 273). Linnell was undoubtedly inspired by Chinese tea tables although these differed in having separate tray tops brought back by the East India companies. Featured alongside Linnell’s design is a virtually identical table to the table offered here but which lacks the parcel-gilt decoration. Of unknown provenance, it was latterly in the collection of Dr. Eric Till, sold by his Executors, Christie's, London, 14 June 2001, lot 24, £311,750 inc. premium (ibid., fig. 274; vol. I, p. 79).

A pair of related walnut and parcel-gilt stands with pierced everted lip was formerly at Campsea Ashe, Suffolk, until sold from the house sale in 1949, lot 942. They were probably supplied to Sir William Lowther for Swillington Hall, Yorkshire, and thence passed by descent to the Hon. William Lowther (d. 1912), youngest brother of the 3rd Earl of Lonsdale, at Lowther Lodge, and subsequently to James, Viscount Ullswater (d. 1949) at The High House, Campsea Ashe. They were acquired by the collector Samuel Messer, and sold after Messer's death, Christie's, London, 5 December 1991, lot 69 and were later in the collection of Simon Sainsbury, only to be sold once more Christie's, London, 18 June 2008, lot 90. Another single torchère of this model was in the collection of Mr. & Mrs. Jack Steinberg, sold Christie's, London, 19 May 2016, lot 35.

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