A GEORGE III MAHOGANY DROP-LEAF SOFA-TABLE

ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS, CIRCA 1780

Details

A GEORGE III MAHOGANY DROP-LEAF SOFA-TABLE
Attributed to Gillows, circa 1780
The rectangular top with rounded flaps opening on lopers and with tulipwood crossbanding, above a single frieze drawer flanked by false drawers to eachside, the corners of the frieze headed by walnut diamond lozenge insets, on tapering square legs with cuffed feet, the sides veneered and with banding beneath the drop-leaves, with the modern dealer's metal tag for Norman Adams
29in. (73.5cm.) high, 58½in. (148.5cm.) long extended, 19½in. (49.5cm.) deep

Provenance

With Norman Adams Antiques, Ltd., London.

Literature

C. Claxton Stevens and S. Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection, Woodbridge, Suffolk, 1983, p.329.

Lot Essay

This sofa table is an exceptionally early example of a form which evolved from the Pembroke table towards the end of the eighteenth century. Sofa tables, essentially a Regency invention, are normally found with end supports rather than the four legs found on this example.

Designed to sit in front of the sofa Thomas Sheraton notes in The Cabinet Dictionary of 1803 that 'The ladies cheifly occupy them to draw, write or read upon'.

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