PROBABLY MID-18TH CENTURY

Elements of the table design derive from earlier engravings of William Jones published in his The Gentlemens or Builders Companion, 1739, pl. 22, with its flowerhead-capped and acanthus-carved C-scroll legs and pl. 23, with its mask-embellished frieze. The table is conceived in a fully rococo style and incorporates unusual pierced quatrefoils which are introduced in Thomas Chippendale's Director in the 'gothic' taste. The tables relate closely to another smaller one from the collection at Lyme Hall, Cheshire with central pierced shell rather than mask (see M. Jourdain, 'Lyme Park, Cheshire', Country Life, 20 October 1944, p. 70). The elaborately waved and C-scroll frieze appears on a table illustrated in F. L. Hinckley, Metropolitan Furniture of the Georgian Years, New York, 1988, pl. 87, fig. 188), while a similar boldly proportioned female mask is on a table from Hornby Castle illustrated in 'Furniture of the XVII & XVIII Centuries. Furniture at Hornby Castle', Country Life, 30 March 1912, p. 475, fig. 3.