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Lot Essay
These tables are designed in the French antique or Grecian taste. With their 'tablette' stretchers and columnar 'encoignure' corners, they relate to the fashion promoted by the Parisian marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre (d. 1796), such as his 'Consoles ... avec tablettes', supplied in the mid-1780s to George John, 2nd Earl Spencer (d. 1834) (J. Friedman, Spencer House, London, 1993, fig. 207). Their columnar legs have Grecian Ionic capitals as popularised by James 'Athenian' Stuart's engravings of the Ilyssus Temple issued in his Antiquities of Athens, 1762, and introduced by the architect Henry Holland in his 1780s embellishment of Spencer House, London (ibid, figs. 206 and 73). In place of laurels festooned from capitals in the Ilyssus Temple fashion, these frames are wreathed in bas-relief with Apollo laurels. Their herm-tapered and palm-wreathed columns have antique flutes scalloped in sunflower fashion and capped by pearls, similar to those on a set of sixteen armchairs ordered from Chippendale by William Constable for the salon at Burton Constable, Yorkshire, circa 1778, while their reeded feet are coned in 'thyrsus' form as adopted by Chippendale for one of his sets of 'cabriolet' chairs that were japanned yellow and white, supplied for Harewood's Yellow Damask Sitting Room (J. Sellars (ed.), The Art of Thomas Chippendale: Master Furniture Maker, Leeds, 2000, p. 35; and C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 112, figs. 192-6 and p. 115, fig. 200). The classical medallions adorning their friezes relate to those included in two etchings by Thomas Chippendale the Younger (d. 1822) of circa 1779, adopted into a set of three pier-glasses and an overmantel for the salon at Burton Constable, 1778-9 (ibid, p. 19, figs. 30 & 32-3, pp. 164-5, figs. 295-298, and p. 171, figs. 306-7). Their stretchers' ribbon-guilloches banded in the 'Etruscan' manner with Venus pearl-strings also featured in Chippendale's (possibly the Younger) embellishment of Harewood's pier-glasses, supplied to Edwin Lascelles, later Lord Harewood (d. 1795) in 1775, whose Roman-medallion frames were burnished like 'Silver' (ibid, p. 180, fig. 322; sold by George, 7th Earl of Harewood, Christie's London, 10 April 1986, lot 84 and again, anonymously, Christie's London, 9 July 1992, lot 54, £319,000).
The design for these tables is also derived from a pier table by Thomas Sheraton illustrated in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 1793, pl. 4. Sheraton describes them as 'merely for ornament under a glass, they are generally very light, and the style of finishing them is rich and elegant. Sometimes the tops are solid marble, but most commonly veneered in rich satin, or other valuable wood, with a cross-band on the outside, a border about two inches richly japanned, and a narrow cross-band beyond it, to go all round. The frames are commonly gold, or white and burnished gold. Stretching-rails have of late been introduced to these tables, and it must be owned that it is with good effect, as they take off the long appearance of the legs, and make the under part appear more furnished; besides they afford an opportunity of fixing a vase or basket of flowers, which, with their reflection when there is a glass behind, produce a brilliant appearance'. Helena Hayward states that 'The pair of tables...were produced at a moment in the history of English furniture when elegance of design was combined with a refined sense of colour and a keen appreciation of sophistication in ornament' (op. cit.).
THE PAINTED TOPS
These painted tops have Etruscan pearl-wreathed borders wreathed by beribboned rose garlands; while more beribboned garlands festoon its central compartment, comprised of figurative medallions with trophies of flowered cornucopiae emblematic of Peace and Plenty. The theme is echoed by their golden laurel-wreathed frame, which is centred by a relief-carved Classical medallion between Grecian Ionic-capped and palm-wrapped pillars. Their floral japanning relates to that of the furniture and new-fashioned chimney-pieces advertised in 1788 by the Great Marlborough Street cabinet-maker and, 'Peintre ibiniste' George Brookshaw (d. 1823) (L. Wood, 'George Brookshaw', Apollo, May 1991, pp. 301-306). A related table, with French-fashioned garlanded frieze, was supplied to Sir John Griffin Griffin (1719-1797), for Audley End, Essex in the mid-1780s by Messrs. Chipchase and Lambert (R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed., 1954, vol. III, p. 300, fig. 75).
The present pair is part of a larger group with very similar ornament and decoration, including a pair of pier tables in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Merseyside and a pair of slightly larger tables, with minor differences in width between the two, similar to the present pair, sold in the Walter Chrysler sale held at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 6-7, 1960, lots 529 and 530, subsequently with Devenish & Co., 929 Madison Avenue, New York, 29 March 1972, then with Mrs. Sally A. Rose, South Carolina, by whom sold at Christie's London, 18 June 2008, lot 11 (£91,250). The latter tables have carved floral swags and a central wreath to the frieze. There are signs of similar pendant carvings having once adorned the present tables.
The design for these tables is also derived from a pier table by Thomas Sheraton illustrated in The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 1793, pl. 4. Sheraton describes them as 'merely for ornament under a glass, they are generally very light, and the style of finishing them is rich and elegant. Sometimes the tops are solid marble, but most commonly veneered in rich satin, or other valuable wood, with a cross-band on the outside, a border about two inches richly japanned, and a narrow cross-band beyond it, to go all round. The frames are commonly gold, or white and burnished gold. Stretching-rails have of late been introduced to these tables, and it must be owned that it is with good effect, as they take off the long appearance of the legs, and make the under part appear more furnished; besides they afford an opportunity of fixing a vase or basket of flowers, which, with their reflection when there is a glass behind, produce a brilliant appearance'. Helena Hayward states that 'The pair of tables...were produced at a moment in the history of English furniture when elegance of design was combined with a refined sense of colour and a keen appreciation of sophistication in ornament' (op. cit.).
THE PAINTED TOPS
These painted tops have Etruscan pearl-wreathed borders wreathed by beribboned rose garlands; while more beribboned garlands festoon its central compartment, comprised of figurative medallions with trophies of flowered cornucopiae emblematic of Peace and Plenty. The theme is echoed by their golden laurel-wreathed frame, which is centred by a relief-carved Classical medallion between Grecian Ionic-capped and palm-wrapped pillars. Their floral japanning relates to that of the furniture and new-fashioned chimney-pieces advertised in 1788 by the Great Marlborough Street cabinet-maker and, 'Peintre ibiniste' George Brookshaw (d. 1823) (L. Wood, 'George Brookshaw', Apollo, May 1991, pp. 301-306). A related table, with French-fashioned garlanded frieze, was supplied to Sir John Griffin Griffin (1719-1797), for Audley End, Essex in the mid-1780s by Messrs. Chipchase and Lambert (R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, London, rev. ed., 1954, vol. III, p. 300, fig. 75).
The present pair is part of a larger group with very similar ornament and decoration, including a pair of pier tables in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Merseyside and a pair of slightly larger tables, with minor differences in width between the two, similar to the present pair, sold in the Walter Chrysler sale held at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 6-7, 1960, lots 529 and 530, subsequently with Devenish & Co., 929 Madison Avenue, New York, 29 March 1972, then with Mrs. Sally A. Rose, South Carolina, by whom sold at Christie's London, 18 June 2008, lot 11 (£91,250). The latter tables have carved floral swags and a central wreath to the frieze. There are signs of similar pendant carvings having once adorned the present tables.