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Lot Essay
The table relates to the documented work of George Bullock of Tenterden Street, London, who was among the most significant and innovative cabinet-makers of the Regency period until his early death in 1818. His most important patrons included the Duke of Atholl, Blair Castle, Matthew Robinson Boulton, Tew Park, and Sir Walter Scott, Abbotsford, and he was commissioned to supply furniture and furnishings for Napoleon’s home-in-exile on St Helena after his defeat at Waterloo in 1815.
The table’s base of slender `turned standard columns’ joined by a stretcher of distinctive shape corresponds closely to the oak sofa table supplied for Tew Park in 1817, sold Christie’s house sale, 27 – 29 May 1987, lot 34 (£38,500 including premium) and another supplied to Mrs Ferguson in the same year exhibited by Blairman, London, and illustrated in the catalogue (C. Wainwright et al, George Bullock, London, 1988, p. 84, no. 22). The cut brass or `buhl’ decoration on the downcurved legs also corresponds to the marquetry design of the Tew Park table.
Here the table-top displays a ribbon of brass-inlaid trefoil sprigs, which replaced the more common French laurel-wreath and was much favoured by Bullock. An oak sofa table at Boughton House, Northamptonshire, with identical borders was acquired directly from Bullock by the 4th Duke of Buccleuch in November 1814. The borders also appear on the suite of furniture manufactured for Don Pedro de Souza e Holstein, 1st Duke of of Palmella (d. 1850), Portuguese ambassador to the court of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, the majority of which was sold in these Rooms, 25 July 1987 lots 171-181 (L. Wood, 'George Bullock and the Duke of Palmella', National Art Collections Fund Review, 1988, pp. 96-100).
A related sofa table in amboyna and with the same `buhl’ inlay from the collection of Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (d.1930) was sold Christie’s, London, 8 June 2006, lot 105, and again Christie’s, London, 21 May 2015, lot 130 (£47,500 including premium).
The table’s base of slender `turned standard columns’ joined by a stretcher of distinctive shape corresponds closely to the oak sofa table supplied for Tew Park in 1817, sold Christie’s house sale, 27 – 29 May 1987, lot 34 (£38,500 including premium) and another supplied to Mrs Ferguson in the same year exhibited by Blairman, London, and illustrated in the catalogue (C. Wainwright et al, George Bullock, London, 1988, p. 84, no. 22). The cut brass or `buhl’ decoration on the downcurved legs also corresponds to the marquetry design of the Tew Park table.
Here the table-top displays a ribbon of brass-inlaid trefoil sprigs, which replaced the more common French laurel-wreath and was much favoured by Bullock. An oak sofa table at Boughton House, Northamptonshire, with identical borders was acquired directly from Bullock by the 4th Duke of Buccleuch in November 1814. The borders also appear on the suite of furniture manufactured for Don Pedro de Souza e Holstein, 1st Duke of of Palmella (d. 1850), Portuguese ambassador to the court of the Prince Regent, later King George IV, the majority of which was sold in these Rooms, 25 July 1987 lots 171-181 (L. Wood, 'George Bullock and the Duke of Palmella', National Art Collections Fund Review, 1988, pp. 96-100).
A related sofa table in amboyna and with the same `buhl’ inlay from the collection of Arthur Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour (d.1930) was sold Christie’s, London, 8 June 2006, lot 105, and again Christie’s, London, 21 May 2015, lot 130 (£47,500 including premium).