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Lot Essay
The distinctive lozenge parquetry design of the serpentine top of this serving-table is characteristic of the work of Henry Hill of Marlborough (1741-1777). Hill was patronized by many significant West Country clients, including the Duke of Somerset at Maiden Bradley, the Earl of Radnor at Longford Castle and Lord Methuen at Corsham Court, Wiltshire. Among the furniture supplied by Hill to Lord Methuen in the 1760s and 1770s are two mahogany Pembroke tables whose tops display the same large-scale lozenge parquetry found on this table-top (L. Wood, Catalogue of Commodes, London, 1994, pp. 67-68). The furniture collection at neighbouring Littlecote also includes a supper table and a card table by Hill, both displaying the same characteristic parquetry (ibid., p. 69). Lucy Wood identifies the lozenge parquetry design to be a speciality of Hill's.
The present table is virtually identical to one formerly in the collection of the Viscounts Leverhulme, sold Christie’s, London, 27 April 2006, lot 297 (£15,600 inc' prem'), differing principally in its dimensions; the Leverhulme table is slightly larger in size. The serpentine-shaped form and round-edged corners of the the present table-top, and the Leverhulme example, can also be found on commodes attributed to Hill (see: L. Wood, ‘Furniture for Lord Delaval: Metropolitan and Provincial’, Furniture History, vol. 26, 1990, figs. 19-24). Other examples of Hill’s lozenge parquetry work includes: a mahogany serpentine Pembroke table, sold Christie’s, London, 21 April 2005, lot 238 and a painted satinwood and marquetry Pembroke table, sold Sotheby’s London, 31 October 2017, lot 96.
The present table is virtually identical to one formerly in the collection of the Viscounts Leverhulme, sold Christie’s, London, 27 April 2006, lot 297 (£15,600 inc' prem'), differing principally in its dimensions; the Leverhulme table is slightly larger in size. The serpentine-shaped form and round-edged corners of the the present table-top, and the Leverhulme example, can also be found on commodes attributed to Hill (see: L. Wood, ‘Furniture for Lord Delaval: Metropolitan and Provincial’, Furniture History, vol. 26, 1990, figs. 19-24). Other examples of Hill’s lozenge parquetry work includes: a mahogany serpentine Pembroke table, sold Christie’s, London, 21 April 2005, lot 238 and a painted satinwood and marquetry Pembroke table, sold Sotheby’s London, 31 October 2017, lot 96.