EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF CHINESE EXPORT BLACK AND GILT-LACQUER DEMI-LUNE GAMES TABLES
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Each decorated overall with scrolling foliage and panels depicting water gardens and pavilion landscapes, the hinged top with Greek-key border, enclosing a later green baize-lined playing surface, above a frieze drawer and on square tapering gate-legs and block feet
30 in. (76 cm.) high; 38 in. (96.5 cm.) wide; 18 ½ in. (47 cm.) deep, closed

Provenance

With Mallett, London, 1982.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, New York, 7 April 2006, lot 256.

Literature

[Possibly] C. Crossman, The Decorative Arts of The China Trade, Woodbridge, 1991, p. 270 (described in the text).

Special notice

This lot will be removed to Christie’s Park Royal. Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite. Our removal and storage of the lot is subject to the terms and conditions of storage which can be found at Christies.com/storage and our fees for storage are set out in the table below - these will apply whether the lot remains with Christie’s or is removed elsewhere. Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Park Royal. All collections from Christie’s Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only. Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com. If the lot remains at Christie’s it will be available for collection on any working day 9.00 am to 5.00 pm. Lots are not available for collection at weekends.

Conditions of sale

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Caitlin Yates

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Lot Essay

These elegant games tables demonstrate the success of the Chinese export trade in combining Oriental arts with Western forms to appeal to the European market during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Lacquered furniture was being made in such centres as Nanking, Tonking and Canton, following Western forms copied from actual examples sent to China or from printed European designs. It reached a high point of production and popularity with the Western trade during the early 19th century, when these examples were made.
While Western designs were being copied, these games tables are unusual in their demi-lune form. Carl Crossman in his The Decorative Arts of The China Trade describes a pair of tables that may be this very pair, sadly they are not illustrated.
A rectangular example, also with two additional gate-legs, was commissioned by Nicholas and Abby Brown of Providence and bears their initials 'NAB' (illustrated in C. L. Crossman, op. cit., Woodbridge, 1991, p. 271, pl. 148). Another pair in the manner of a Hepplewhite design is illustrated ibid, p. 270, p. 147.

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