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Lot Essay
This table is based almost exactly upon a design for a 'Sideboard Table' issued in Thomas Chippendale's The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director, 3rd Edition, 1762, pl. LVIII. The blind fretwork of the frieze and crossed lozenge panelled legs recall the 'Gothic fret' reproduced in plate CXCVI of the same edition. Although by no means unique, Chippendale's Director, published in three editions between 1754 and 1762 and sold for the comparatively high price of £2.8.0, was arguably the most influential pattern-book of the period. Subscribed to by both patrons and cabinet-makers alike, including London makers such as William Gordon, the Channons, James Rannie and William Ince, as well as those from provincial centers such as Thomas Malton of Nottingham, Messrs. Wright and Elwick of Wakefield and Robert Barker of York, it inspired the oeuvre of cabinet-makers throughout England and beyond. It is, therefore, almost impossible to attribute furniture inspired from a Director design with any confidence to a specific cabinet-maker, unless supported by further corroborative evidence or provenance.
Another sideboard table copied from the same pattern with variations to the fretted feet was supplied in 1759 by the Edinburgh maker Alexander Peter to Lord Dumfries for Dumfries House, Scotland and invoiced for £7 (illustrated in F. Bamford, 'Edinburgh Wrights and Furniture Makers 1660-1840', Furniture History, 1983, vol. XIX, pl. 4A and p. 12). Alexander Peter and Thomas Chippendale were both engaged by the Earl of Dumfries in the furnishing of Dumfries House in the late 1750s and early 1760s. A related yewwood example exhibited at the Governor's Palace, Colonial Williamsburg was sold from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, in these Rooms, 17 October 1987, lot 178. Another Chippendale pattern table of the same impressive scale is illustrated in P.Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1906, p.223, fig.205 and was sold by French and Company, in these Rooms, 24 November 1998, lot 65 ($332,500).
Last sold in 1984 by the Viscount Hereford, the table bears a label inscribed Mrs. Devereux and dated 16 March 1936. This would indicate that the table had been in the family's possession, possibly at their seat at Hampton Court, Herefordshire, since at least the earlier part of the 20th century. Prior to that, a third label inscribed in a late 19th century hand identifies the Countess Sondes, although the details of her ownership have not been traceable.
Another sideboard table copied from the same pattern with variations to the fretted feet was supplied in 1759 by the Edinburgh maker Alexander Peter to Lord Dumfries for Dumfries House, Scotland and invoiced for £7 (illustrated in F. Bamford, 'Edinburgh Wrights and Furniture Makers 1660-1840', Furniture History, 1983, vol. XIX, pl. 4A and p. 12). Alexander Peter and Thomas Chippendale were both engaged by the Earl of Dumfries in the furnishing of Dumfries House in the late 1750s and early 1760s. A related yewwood example exhibited at the Governor's Palace, Colonial Williamsburg was sold from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, in these Rooms, 17 October 1987, lot 178. Another Chippendale pattern table of the same impressive scale is illustrated in P.Macquoid, A History of English Furniture, The Age of Mahogany, London, 1906, p.223, fig.205 and was sold by French and Company, in these Rooms, 24 November 1998, lot 65 ($332,500).
Last sold in 1984 by the Viscount Hereford, the table bears a label inscribed Mrs. Devereux and dated 16 March 1936. This would indicate that the table had been in the family's possession, possibly at their seat at Hampton Court, Herefordshire, since at least the earlier part of the 20th century. Prior to that, a third label inscribed in a late 19th century hand identifies the Countess Sondes, although the details of her ownership have not been traceable.