A Regency ormolu mounted rosewood two drawer writing table in the manner of John McLean and Gillows of Lancaster, the shaped rectangular top inset with tooled blue leather, with two cedar lined frieze drawers decorated with matching veneers and boxwood stringing, all raised on slender tapering legs turned with three pairs of rings, applied with brass edging, anthemion panels and collars. English, circa 1815.
Footnote: This interesting table is veneered in the finest rosewood. The design seems to be based on a Thomas Sheraton card table, featured in his Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book first published in 1791. Some details resemble the known work of John McLean, one of the premier London makers of the regency period. The gilt brass collars to the legs sometimes feature on bonheur du jours attributed to McLean and the gilt brass banding around the table top features on some of the best secretaires by the same maker. McLean also had a particular fondness for rosewood and the quality of this piece is certainly equivalent to his known work. McLean seems to have drawn from a relatively small number of gilt brass mounts for his pieces, however, and the fine mounts on our table do not seem to match those on any documented piece by the firm. It is for this reason that a Gillows attribution is tentatively suggested for this piece. The overall design of the legs is very much in the Gillows manner and the mounts look much more like the pieces the firm used on its better pieces during the period concerned.
A large late Regency mahogany partner’s library table attributed to Gillows, the leather inset rectangular top above six frieze drawers, the frieze cross banded, raised on powerful double scroll legs carved with acanthus leaves, the gadrooned pad feet disguising the original brass castors. English, circa 1815.
Footnote: This table is typical of the bold 'neo-baroque', or rococo revival style, first promoted and thereafter rapidly popularised in England by the Gillows firm during the latter half of the 1820s. The design for this particular model appears in a drawing of a library layout (or room plan) executed by Gillows, possibly in conjunction with Ferguson and Co., upon behalf of J. Pultenay Esq. in circa 1829. It is illustrated in S.E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, Vol. II, 2008, Woodbridge, pl. E4, pp.'s 348-349, and is housed at Lancaster City Museums, LM 55.20/33.
A mahogany library table attributed to Gillows, likewise dated circa 1830, which is virtually identical to the present example, was sold at Bonhams, 30 September 2008, The Knightsbridge Sale, lot 262
A Regency mahogany serving table attributed to Gillows, the shaped rectangular top with two small drawers and a central acanthus panel in the frieze, all raised on six turned and reeded legs. English, circa 1815.
A George IV rosewood tray top table, attributed to Gillows, the rectangular top with a bracketed, volute-carved gallery, the frieze with a disguised slide in the centre and drawers in the ends, all raised upon addorsed C-scroll end supports joined by a turned stretcher and terminating in hairy paw feet with hidden castors. English, circa 1826.
Footnote: For a similar table made from mahogany see Susan Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008, Vol. II, p.382, pl GG36.
A very fine Regency mahogany and specimen marble table, attributed to Gillows, the rectangular top inset with a large mosaic panel comprosing 12 marbles from Italy, England, Tunisia and Belgium, the two British stones cut from prehistoric fossil beds, all held within an egg and dart carved frame and raised on a tapering octagonal column, the pedestal with four splayed supports on a solid stretcher set on four strongly carved reeded scroll feet with the original hidden castors. English, circa 1815.
A William IV circular occasional tilt-top table, the figured rosewood top raised on a tapered column, the tripod base with three powerful lion’s paw feet. English, circa 1830.
An early Victorian black and gilt papier-mâché occasional table, the shaped top delicately painted with shells and seaweed within multiple gilt classical borders, all raised on a barley twist tripod support with further gilt decoration. English, circa 1850.
A pair of late 19th century French 3 tier satinwood side tables, each with a circular top with an ormolu gallery, all three tiers decorated with a boxwood diamond trellis on a satinwood ground, purpleheart banding, raised on outswept feet with ormolu ram’s heads and cloven hoof feet. French, circa 1890.
A pair of George III marquetry tables in the French taste, each of rectangular form, the top and under tier with a floral spray on a diagonal kingwood quarter veneered ground within kingwood cross banding, with a single frieze drawer at one end, the tapering cabriole legs with ormolu mounts and sabots. English, circa 1790.
A pair of mahogany circular occasional tables in the Chippendale taste, the tops with gadrooned edges, each above three groups of openwork cluster column legs, descending past triform undertiers to block feet. English, circa 1920.
An Anglo Indian rosewood barley twist gateleg table, the top of typical oval form with two drop down flaps, supported on four barley twist legs with additional hinged supporting legs, all joined by strengthened with square section stretchers. Applied with a plaque stating ‘Distinctive Furniture: Made by the Wesleyan Mission Workshop, Tumkur, Mysore State’. Anglo-Indian, circa 1900.
‘The Kingdom in a kingdom: English Methodist Mission in Mysore State 1813-1913,’ an eBook by A J Anandan, provides a comprehensive evaluation of this Mission’s activities in the princely state of Mysore. It also explores the unique nature of the relationship between the Maharajas and some of the missionaries.
An Anglo Indian rosewood end support library table, the rectangular top with shaped short sides, decorated with wide satinwood banding, the frieze with two drawers on one side and two dummy drawers on the reverse all with herringbone veneers and knob handles, raised on turned baluster end supports with arched acanthus-carved scroll legs. Indian, circa 1840
A Napoleon kingwood marble free-standing writing table attributed to Sormani, the shaped rectangular top inset with Breche d’Alep marble within wide ormolu edging, all above three frieze drawers on one side with dummy fronts on the other, all raised on cabriole legs, decorated in marquetry with flowerheads scattered on cross-banding and opulent ormolu mounts comprising scrolls, acanthus, sabots and elegant female busts to the corners. French, circa 1860.
Paul Sormani (1817-1877) was Italian born, establishing his first workshops in Paris in 1847, finally settling in Rue Charlot in 1867 and offering works of ‘a quality of execution of the first order’. His specialty was copies of furniture in the style of the ‘Ancien Regime’. The firm exhibited at the Paris Expositions Universelles of 1855 and 1867, and London 1862 and won several medals for excellence.
A Regency mahogany centre table attributed to Gillows, the circular tilt-top with book-matched quarter veneers, raised on a reeded column with an acanthus carved flange and triangular platform base on three outswept legs. English, circa 1830.
A Victorian walnut revolving display table, the circular leather inset top within burr walnut cross banding, the frieze also cross-banded in burr walnut, the whole raised upon a turned support with three cabriole legs carved with scrolling acanthus and volutes. English, 1860
A Louis Philippe giltwood demi-lune console table, the original shaped breche d’Alep marble top set on a frieze carved with olive branches, the four tapering stop-fluted legs joined by a double guilloche carved stretcher centred on a classic urn, regilded. French, c1840.
The kidney-shaped desk first appeared as a writing or dressing-table during the Louis XV period (1715-1774) in France before being introduced into England in the late 18th century. It evolved to incorporate drawers and often small shelves in the Sheraton period, see ‘The Cabinet Directory’ of 1803. The finest Victorian examples were made by Gillows following the design for ‘An Oak Pedestal and Kidney Table supplied to Ferguson & Co.’ in the ‘Gillows Estimate Sketch Books’ (1840). See Susan E Stuart ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840,’ (ibid), Vol. I, p.339, pl. 393 for a similar walnut desk also stamped and with Bramah locks, which once belonged to the cricket writer Brian Johnston (1912-1994).
A pair of double plate giltwood pier glasses, one George 1 and the other made to match by George Paton carver and gilder to Queen Victoria, each with the original, probably Queen Anne, shaped and bevelled glasses, the upper plate arched and cut with a central Brunswick star above a border of scrolls along the lower edge, all within a gadrooned frame carved in high and shallow relief with pendant bellflowers and scrolling foliage issuing from flowerheads, the swan-neck pediment centred on a cartouche. One Georgian circa 1730 and the other circa 1840. The older one with a paper label stating ‘Hugh Paton, Printseller and Picture Frame Maker…Her Majesty’s carver and gilder’. English.
Footnote: The George I mirror, made c.1730, is an intriguing design that is based on the popular tabernacle shape that was a favourite of the Palladian designers in England such as William Kent and John Vardy. However, the way the slip inside the mirror is shaped indicates the Queen Anne period. This could be particularly significant as both plates in this mirror are original and may well have been re-used Queen Anne period plates. It was very common in even the grandest of homes to update mirrors by changing the style of the frame to suit the latest fashion whilst retaining and re-using the valuable mirror glass itself. This seems all the more likely with the present mirror due to the wonderful engraved Brunswick star and other designs on the top plate-again this form of decoration tends to be associated with mirrors from the William and Mary and Queen Anne periods and is almost always a sign of the highest quality as well.
Although it has not been possible to find any provenance for this particular pair of mirrors, we are able to make several educated guesses due to the label on the back of one of them. The label is that of Hugh Paton, a very important and well-known mid-19th century tradesman based in Edinburgh (see below for more details about his business). Paton advertised widely in the Scottish press and from 1842 onwards he began to use the phrase “Carver and gilder to the Queen”, later amended to “Carver and gilder to the Queen and HRH The Duchess of Kent”. Although the Paton business continued under the control of his son, Hugh Paton himself had died by 1867. Therefore, our mirrors must have passed through his hands before that point.
It was common practice for restorers to add their label to the back of pieces that they had worked on in some way and it is highly likely that Paton was asked to re-gild the George I mirror and then make a copy to match at the same time. The quality of the copy is quite remarkable and it is virtually impossible to tell the pair apart when viewed on the wall. Given Paton's reputation and the location of his business, it is likely that the George I mirror belonged to a Scottish family of some prominence who then sought out the very best local gilder to work on their piece and make them a copy.
Hugh Paton and his Business
Hugh Paton's business is recorded from 1827-1867, becoming Hugh Paton and Sons after his death in 1868 and flourishing until c.1892. During that time the firm occupied many different premises in Edinburgh including in Princes Street and Adam Square. Unfortunately, the relevant part of the label on our mirrors is damaged so we cannot say with certainty where the firm was based at the time that the mirrors were handled but, as stated above, the presence of the royal crest proves that the date must have been post-1842 and pre-1867 when the name of the firm was changed. As such, the firm would have either been based in Adam Square or at 10 Princes Street.
Although it was common for tradesmen and women of this period to have had multi-faceted businesses, Paton operated in a truly astonishing number of markets. A brief biography of the man is maintained on the Science Museum website as he won the contract in 1851 to print the timetables for all of the railway services leaving from Edinburgh and Glasgow. An advert in the Glasgow Sentinel on the 8th of March 1851 mentioned Paton opening new premises in Glasgow specifically to print these timetables and mention was made of the fact that he had received permission to run adverts in the timetable booklets. This is just one example of Paton's enterprising nature. The same advert described his business as “Printer and publisher, picture frame-maker and print-publisher, carver and gilder to the Queen and her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent”. Later in the same advert, Paton mentioned that he was taking orders for “window-cornices, room-mouldings, looking-glass frames and picture frames of every description which will be made to order”. He also offered a picture restoration and cleaning service and had a selection of bronzes, paintings, etchings, engravings, pier tables and items of papier mâché for sale according to other adverts of the period. In fact, Paton may well have been an important paintings dealer in the area at the time-an advert in the Edinburgh Evening Post and Scottish Standard printed on the 14th of April 1849 mentioned some of his latest purchases, made at important auction sales in England. These included “the Duke of Buckingham's collection of miniatures, antiquities and the remainder of the paintings, from which he selected and purchased varied and numerous specimens by the Old Masters”. Artists represented in his stock at this point apparently included Albano, Ruysdael, Heemskirk, Sir Peter Lely, Sir James Thornhill and Murillo. Certainly, Paton's work as a print publisher is very significant indeed and much has been written in specialist literature about his work in this field.
Hugh Paton and Son were awarded another royal warrant by the Lord Steward in 1886 as carvers and gilders, suggesting a long period of service to the crown. Research is ongoing in to the scope of any known commissions conducted for the royal family and hopefully more details about this fascinating craftsman and his extraordinary business will come to light. These mirrors are as interesting from a social history perspective as they are important as examples of fine mirrors of unusual transitional design.