CIRCA 1765, IN THE MANNER OF WILLIAM AND JOHN LINNELL OR JOHN COBB

The bold but elegantly carved Vitruvian scrolled frieze displayed on this pair of neo-classical card tables reflects the George III Grecian fashion popularised by James Stuart's Antiquities of Athens (1762), and is also inspired by the earlier work of the Rome-trained artist-architect William Kent (d. 1748). Whilst it has not yet been possible to firmly attribute these tables to a specific maker, it is interesting to compare several known commissions by both John Cobb and William and John Linnell, which display similar attributes.

A sideboard table, a sideboard pedestal and a cellarette en suite, now at Temple Newsam (illustrated C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1978, II, no. 337, pp. 278-280) but originally made for Boynton Hall, Yorkshire, the home of Sir George Strickland (1729-1808), are distinctive in their comparable use of the Vitruvian scrolled frieze. This commission has been attributed to John Cobb based on accounts for Boynton between 1754-1773. Further related examples by Cobb were supplied to John Scott, Esq., for Banks Fee House, Longborough, Gloucestershire, circa 1765, sold separately and anonymously at Christie’s London, 6 July 2000, lot 137 (£223,750) and 14 June 2001, lot 135 (£92,250).

Also worthy of note for its closely related Vitruvian scrolled seatrails is the set of hall seat furniture commissioned either by William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington or his son Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl of Harrington (d. 1829) of Harrington House, St. James's and Petersham Lodge, Richmond. The design for the Harrington suite echoes William Kent’s earlier designs for garden benches at Chatsworth and Rousham. Two pairs of Harrington hall benches were sold from the Collection of the Duke of Kent, Christie’s, London, 20 November 2009, lots 45 and 46, and one pair was later sold again at Christie’s, London, 5 July 2018, lot 123 (£162,500). The suite has been attributed to Linnell based on the similarities to the Shardeloes hall settee which is unique for being the only settee for which a bill and a drawing by Linnell exists. Linnell frequently used the Vitruvian scroll that is such a prominent feature of both settee and stools, for example on an armchair pattern of circa 1770, illustrated H. Hayward and P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980. p.42, fig 79) and on his celebrated suite of inlaid furniture made for Robert Child (d. 1782) at Osterley Park.