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An Exceptional George III Period Breakfast or Supper Table, Attributed to Henry Kettle
This table conforms to the type described by Thomas Chippendale in his Director as a breakfast table. They are often referred to as supper tables in the antiques trade in order to differentiate them from tilt top dining tables of small size which are also known as breakfast tables-as is often the case with furniture, there is no one description that is universally used to describe a type of piece. What differentiates our piece and others like it from the far more common Pembroke tables is the addition of a cupboard undertier section. Usually these cupboards were produced either in fretwork or, far more commonly, with wire work. This is because the tables are believed to have been designed to store food and drink away in a bedroom so that the owner of the piece would not have to call upon servants again if they wanted to eat a small meal at a time of the day of their choosing-the cupboard acting both as a pantry and, supposedly, as a way of making such that cats and dogs were not able to steal the contents. Our table, with its beautifully-made concave cupboard section may well have been made for a slightly different purpose but what is clear is that it was designed to be sat at from three directions-the concave section and both sides-making it particularly practical then and now. With its skilfully veneered and inlaid top, this table bears many similarities with labelled pieces by the St Paul's Churchard, London, cabinetmaker Henry Kettle. Several commissions by Kettle are recorded and labelled pieces by him are illustrated in Christopher Gilbert's Pictorial Dictionary of London Marked Furniture 1700-1840. Of particular interest in relation to this table are a labelled Pembroke from Saltram in Devon and another similar table with unknown provenance. Both of these tables, though strictly Pembroke tables and lacking cupboards, employ the same inlaid oval and stylised rectangular panels to the flaps and this has come to be recognised as one of the hallmarks of a piece made by the firm.  
Antique Billiard Snooker Pool Table Gilded Cox And Yeman London England
Striking full size (12ft x 6ft)  Victorian table, made for James Blyth, 1st Baron Blyth (1841-1925) for 33 Portland Place, London. It is veneered in ebony with openwork gilt-wood panels applied to the sides and boldly carved and gilded acanthus leaf scrolls on the corners. The panels are filled with small and large circular guilloche enclosing flower-heads with ebony centres and the lower borders are bright cut with fans of trefoils. The fluting on the tapering legs are gilded as are the acanthus leaf caps on the feet. Bearing a maker’s label Cox & Yeman, Billiard Table Manufacturers, 209A Brompton Road, London. English, circa 1895.   Footnotes: James Blyth, Ist Baron Blyth, 1841-1925, was a party-loving and philanthropic millionaire who created his wealth by founding the famous gin distillers, W A Gilbey & Sons. He bought no33 Portland Place, a Robert Adam house built in 1775 for Lord Henry Wyndham, in 1893. A man of great energy and innovation he carried out numerous improvements to the property including ‘a remarkable Victorian extension, which included a stained glass billiard room. He also introduced some ingenious innovations such as a hydraulic wall, which separated the dining room from the music room. The ambitious design, which still exists in its original form, was powered by a water pump system concealed in the basement.’ It is presumed that the stained-glass billiard room was built to house this impressive table.     Cox and Yemen Mr Henry Cox and Mr Edward Yeman joined forces at some time in the 1850s to form their own billiard table company. It would seem that Mr Cox was already building tables but needed the expertise of Mr Yeman and his sister who were trained by Burroughes and Watts stuffing cushions and making Holland covers respectively. By 1864 they were fully fledged manufacturers of billiard tables and supplied specially made competition tables for the 1866 Oxford vs Cambridge match, Dufton’s ‘Great Handicap’ and the hotly contested Roberts and Cook championships. By 1873 the company was located at 184 Brompton Road and listed over fifty titled gentleman as customers including: The Duke of Richmond, The Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Jersey, the Nwab Nizam of Bengal, H.M. the King of Siam, Chas. Dickens and ‘the London Clubs’. In 1876 Yeman left the partnership but Cox carried on under the same name. In 1902 His Majesty the Shah of Persia, ordered two billiard tables from Messrs. Cox and Yeman. The tables were made of mahogany, with carved legs and fitted with this firm’s well-known low cushion. During the Shah’s tour he stayed at the Royal Palace Hotel, Ostend, and at the Elysee Palace Hotel, in Paris, both of these magnificent hotels have billiard tables fitted by Cox and Yeman. Always innovative Cox patented several products from ‘Simplex’ Combined Billiard and Dining Tables, Invisible Pocket Plates, ‘Multum-in-Parvo’ rosettes and ‘Ovalex tables, a dainty arrangement in curving and rectangular cushions.’ However, despite these novelties and sponsoring challenge matches, Cox and Yeman went into receivership in 1908 and were finally bought out by Messrs. Burroughes and Watts in 1911.
An unusual and attractive centre table by Maxie Lane
An unusual and attractive centre table by Maxie Lane, carved from solid elm with an irregular shaped top raised on two A-frame supports rough-hewn to resemble deer antlers. English, circa 1978.   Footnote:  Maxie Lane (1910-2014) Colourful and flamboyant lumberjack, artist, sculptor and author Maxie Lane died, in Andover, aged 104.  The sculptor, who famously cut through his meal, a table and chairs in a restaurant because the steak was said to be tough, served in the Army and the Navy but nevertheless was totally unconventional and anti-establishment.  He wrote a trilogy of autobiographical books, appeared on television with Russell Harty and Esther Rantzen and exhibited in some of the top galleries in the world including the Tate Modern.  He used a chainsaw to carve furniture from the solid wood of trees he felled.  His ‘Last Supper Table’ was made from a casualty of Dutch Elm disease and is on permanent display at Furzey Gardens, in the New Forest.  It is said to be the largest solid English elm piece in the world. Photos by MarkWNS text from Furzey Gardens, Hampshire “Maxie and his son Max junior felled the 25 ton tree. They then set about the massive trunk which was twice the size of the finished work. Using the largest chainsaws available they carved and sculpted the primitive shape of the table. This work took some two weeks. They then worked for a further three months with axe, adze, plane and chisel honing and coaxing out the natural lines and flow of the grain. Paramount to Maxie at this stage was the preservation of the tree's character and integrity. He would only be satisfied with the end result if he felt that his interpretation had complimented the elemental spirit of the tree. The final work consisted of creating a fine finish and patina to the table. This was achieved over many months by constant caress of the wood with four varying grades of sandpaper. The table was then coated with beeswax and a natural wood polish created by Maxie and finally applied.  When finished, the table weighed 2.5 tonnes. It is believed that this is the largest Elm table in existence. The "last supper" table was created by Maxie as an epitaph to the last of the giant English elm trees which were all but wiped from our landscape in the 20th century.” “He was always on the side of the underdog and underprivileged and always striving for freedom and justice for the down trodden”.
A Low Maxie Lane elm Coffee Table
A low Maxie Lane elm coffee table, carved as one piece from the solid with on leg and the top following the curves of the trunk and the other leg cut in the round. English, c 1970. Footnote:  Maxie Lane (1910-2014) Colourful and flamboyant lumberjack, artist, sculptor and author Maxie Lane died, in Andover, aged 104.  The sculptor, who famously cut through his meal, a table and chairs in a restaurant because the steak was said to be tough, served in the Army and the Navy but nevertheless was totally unconventional and anti-establishment.  He wrote a trilogy of autobiographical books, appeared on television with Russell Harty and Esther Rantzen and exhibited in some of the top galleries in the world including the Tate Modern. He used a chainsaw to carve furniture from the solid wood of trees he felled.  His ‘Last Supper Table’ was made from a casualty of Dutch Elm disease and is on permanent display at Furzey Gardens, in the New Forest. It is said to be the largest solid English elm piece in the world.         Photos by MarkWNS text from Furzey Gardens, Hampshire “Maxie and his son Max junior felled the 25 ton tree. They then set about the massive trunk which was twice the size of the finished work. Using the largest chainsaws available they carved and sculpted the primitive shape of the table. This work took some two weeks. They then worked for a further three months with axe, adze, plane and chisel honing and coaxing out the natural lines and flow of the grain. Paramount to Maxie at this stage was the preservation of the tree's character and integrity. He would only be satisfied with the end result if he felt that his interpretation had complimented the elemental spirit of the tree. The final work consisted of creating a fine finish and patina to the table. This was achieved over many months by constant caress of the wood with four varying grades of sandpaper. The table was then coated with beeswax and a natural wood polish created by Maxie and finally applied.  When finished, the table weighed 2.5 tonnes. It is believed that this is the largest Elm table in existence. The "last supper" table was created by Maxie as an epitaph to the last of the giant English elm trees which were all but wiped from our landscape in the 20th century.”
George III Rosewood and satinwood sofa table
George III Rosewood and satinwood sofa table, the beautifully figured top above two frieze drawers all raised upon end supports with tapering sabre legs. Decorated throughout with satinwood crossbandings. Regency rosewood sofa table. Attributed to Gillow. FOTNQOTE . See Susan Stuart. An unusual feature of this elegant table is the size and versatility. It would seat 6 people to dine when open. This table is similar to a pair of sofa tables supplied by Gillows for Broughton Hall, North Yorkshire in 1803. A rosewood and inlaid sofa table of closely related design sold Sotheby's London, 13 January 2009, lot 181. A table of this pattern was also originally supplied to the Lords Brownlow, Belton, Lincolnshire, sold Christie's, New York, 17 October 2003, lot 176. A very similar table can been seen in the Mallett Yearbook 2006, p. 52.
The Chatsworth Nagasaki Table from The Great Exhibition 1951
The lobed top decorated in gold lacquer and lavishly inlaid in stained mother-of-pearl and powder in Nagasaki style on a roiro-nuri ground, the
very thin, transparent layers of aogai [shell] with their natural blue colours heightened by brilliant red and yellow pigment, painted over a white
 gofun ground with three foliate panels containing ho-o, cranes and other birds amongst peonies and bamboo, the centre with cresting waves, the
side with further flowers, the top supported by a pillar in the form of a tree trunk, painted dark brown over crepe silk, with green and white
applications of 'lichen' and the extraordinary element of the trio of life-size macaque monkeys surrounding and supporting the column, carved
out of wood, with fur applied to all the limbs and the heads and with inlaid glass eyes dressed in chanchanko jackets. Japanese, circa 1850. Provenance: Purchased by the 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858) from the Great Exhibition of 1851.
 This unique table, made around 1850, is known to have been purchased by William Spencer Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire (1790-1858). From the Great Exhibition of 1851 in the Crystal Palace - the architect of which was the Duke's own gardener Joseph Paxton who was subsequently knighted for the achievement. There are late 19th century photographs extant of this remarkable table in the Oak Room at Chatsworth included in two books about the house, The House, a Portrait of Chatwort (1982) and Chatsworth - The House (2002), authored by the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire.
 Another table with the same rich, many-coated black lacquer and aogai inlaid decoration, but smaller and circular, is in the Het Loo Palace National Museum at Apeldoorm in the Netherlands (see Oliver Impey and Christiaan Jorg, Japanese Export Lacquer 1580 - 1850 (Amsterdam, 2005), pi. 544). This, too, has a fairly elaborate pillar and feet, the pillar being carved as a palm tree and the base with three feet as the pads of a lion. It is documented to the year 1849, the same period as
the present piece.
 Literature: Impey and Jorg showed conclusively that both round and hexagonal tripod tables lacquered black with Nagasaki-style shell inlay of bird and flower designs were
being made in Kyoto during the first half of the 19th century. Patterns for tripod tables with legs in the form of butterflies and griffons, bats and others are illustrated
in a book published in 1856 by a studio called Asada - the name of a lacquerer active from the end of the 18th century. Tilt-top tables, as depicted in the Asada
document are to be found in world museum collections such as the hexagonal table with a shell inlaid design of a hen and blossoming tree in the Peabodv Essex
Museum Salem, acquired around 1850. This type has been identified by Impey and Jorg as having been brought to Salem as part of the private cargo
of Captain Deveneux on the Franklin in 1799.
 Monkeys dressed in short, padded chanchanko jackets were trained by itinerant performers in Japan and these are found frequently in Japanese art. The subject would
have greatly amused Europeans familiar with the French fashion for 'Singerie', the depiction of monkeys in human dress engaged in human activities, in both paintings and sculpture. Indeed in England pet monkeys were dressed and taught to emulate human behaviour; for example Hogarth’s Taste in High Life of 1746 depicts a
group of young people with similarly dressed, monocled monkey perusing a menu. The creature wears a coat of the 18th century silk taffeta type made for a pet monkey
in the collection of the Musee de la Textile, Paris. The table as great work of lacquered art must have drawn admiration and acclaim from amused
visitors to the 1851 exhibition and later at Chatsworth.
Table and Eight Chairs by Sir Norman Foster
An Innovative Table and Eight Chairs by Sir Norman Foster designed for Renault, 1983. The rectangular toughened glass top of this table is supported by steel arms with suction cups which converge on a central spine. The A-frame end supports were inspired by the lunar landing module ‘Eagle’. The chairs have moulded G.R.P. bucket seats within steel frames which stack and have handles for linking them together in rows. The underside stamped Herman Miller and dated 1 June 1983. Provenance: Acquired directly from the Renault Centre by a British Architect for his private collection. Literature: The design for the present table was based on the working furniture in Foster’s offices and was further developed during his designs for the famous Renault Centre, Swindon, opened in 1983. The Renault Centre has been described as the Foster practice’s most ‘playful’ structure and this table formed part of the original interior which included tables, chairs and workstations incorporating the ‘spine’ and ‘lunar module’ leg concept which closely parallels the articulated structure of the building. The Eames chairs by Herman Miller seemed a perfect choice to compliment the tables and each bear the Miller mark and a date stamp for 1 July 1983, the date when they were installed in the Renault Centre. The iconic design of the tables was later manufactured under license from Foster by Techno of Milan (1988) with minor differences to accommodate larger production scales. Born in Reddish, Stockport in 1935, Norman Foster studied architecture at Manchester University where he was influenced by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. He won the Henry Fellowship to Yale School of Architecture where he met his future business partner Richard Rogers. One of the world’s most celebrated architects and designers his work is represented across the globe with buildings such as the Millennium Bridge and Renault Centre in Britain, the Hearst Tower in New York, the Expo MRT Station Singapore and the Metropolitan Building in Warsaw. He was knighted in 1990, appointed to the Order of Merit in 1997 and made a life peer in 1999.
A rare and unusual Order of the Garter black marble table
This rectangular end support table has a chequerboard pietra dura panel of giallo antico, portoro, brocatelle d’Espagne, Blue John, malachite and other marbles, all set into Ashford black marble carved with floral and foliate borders. The corners are carved with the arms and motto ‘Honi Soit Qui Mal y Pense’ of the Order of the Garter. This top is set on a mahogany table with a shaped frieze and end supports boldly carved with palmettes, scrolls and circular bosses and joined with a turned stretcher. There are the original castors disguised in the feet. English, circa 1822.  The Most Noble Order of the Garter is the world's oldest order of knighthood in continuous existence, founded by Edward III in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George Cross. It is dedicated to the image and arms of Saint George and the honour is conferred solely at the discretion of the monarch. Membership is limited to 24 Companions and includes members of the British Royal Family, foreign sovereigns and individuals who have made an exceptional contribution in public service. Male members are known as Knights Companion, whilst female members are known as Ladies Companion.  The particular form of the arms used on this table, incorporating the Hanoverian arms in escutcheon, means that it must have been produced between 1816 and 1837. The use of thistles surrounding the garter on both sides is also potentially significant. Usually, a thistle would be used on one side and a rose on the other. This suggests that the table might have Scottish links. Given that George IV made his celebrated visit to Scotland in 1822, staying in Dalkeith Palace, it is quite possible that the table was commissioned at this time. The quality of the Ashford marble top and the pietra dura inlay suggests it might have been made by the Westmacott family of sculptors - who supplied a number of other inlaid stone table tops to the Royal Collection at this period. (Please see the following page for further information on Ashford marble.)
A Pugin table commissioned by King George IV for Windsor Castle from Morel and Seddon
This Gothic Revival parcel gilt oak centre table was designed by A.W.N. Pugin for Morel & Seddon as part of their commission to refurbish Windsor Castle. The table is recorded in the firm’s account books as follows: No. 1071. ‘To a large Gothic circular table of very fine dark oak highly polished with a richly inlaid border of various woods on a frame ornamented with string course carved bosses, perforated tracery and pendants, supported by a sexagon pillar, and triangular plinths with feet and improved castors, ornamented with tracery, the whole of the tracery, bosses &c gilt in the best manner in mat and burnished gold.’ The frieze ornament is replaced after the original and the underside has fanned ribs in imitation of a Gothic vaulted ceiling. Inscribed ‘No. 240’ and stamped ‘617’. Together with a protective tablecloth embroidered with the Royal coat of arms. English, 1828. Provenance: Delivered to Windsor Castle by Morel & Seddon, July 1828.  Published:  Manuscript Account Book of Morel & Seddon, n.d. [1830], Royal Collection, Stable Yard House, St James’s Palace, London (RCIN 1114843).  Windsor Castle Interiors, Illustrated Manuscript, State Apartments and Private Apartments, vols I & II, n.d. [c. 1880], Royal Collection, Stable Yard House, St James’s Palace, London.  Cooper, Jeremy. Victorian and Edwardian Furniture and Interiors: From the Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2007, p. 48 (illus. fig. 91).  Roberts, Hugh. For the King's Pleasure: The Furnishing and Decoration of George IV's Apartments at Windsor Castle. London: Royal Collection, 2001, pp. 339-343, 345, 347, 349 (illus. fig. 426, 432-433).  De Bellaigue, Geoffrey, and Pat Kirkham. George IV And The Furnishing Of Windsor Castle. Furniture History 8 (1972): 1-34, esp. 19-20.  Atterbury, Paul, and Clive Wainwright. Pugin: A Gothic Passion. New Haven [etc.]: Yale University Press, 1994.   Seddon and Morel and the Windsor Castle Commission. The partnership of Nicholas Morel and George Seddon was noted as the largest furnishing company in London in the eighteenth century, thus having the capacity to process large orders. Morel had already worked for the Prince of Wales, later George IV, on his residences at Carlton House and the Brighton Pavilion, but the refurbishment of Windsor Castle was an enormous undertaking which included the furnishing of 59 rooms with a budget of £203,963 6s 8d. This was the largest sum ever devoted to a single furnishing scheme in this country, equivalent to nearly £250 million in today’s currency, and, maybe inevitably, Seddon had great difficulty in extracting the £200,000 from the Crown - which led to a near bankruptcy in 1840. Morel & Seddon collaborated with some of the finest craftsmen and designers of the day including the Parisian cabinetmaker F.H.G. Jacob-Desmalter and A.W.N. Pugin who designed the present table. The designs for The Drawing Room (Room 240), then called ‘The Coffee Room’, were endorsed and initialled by the King and A.W.N. Pugin was responsible for the Gothic forms of the furniture. All of these pieces were delivered in July 1828, according to Morel & Seddon’s account books. The bill supplied to George IV for the decorations of Room 240 alone amounted to £3,071.15s, equivalent to roughly £3.7 million today.  Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) was an architect, artist and designer, who, in his short but eventful life, is principally remembered for his Gothic Revival style of architecture. He learnt drawing from his father, Auguste Pugin, a French draughtsman, forced to flee France as a result of the French Revolution. His first commissions were for the goldsmiths Rundell and Bridge, and for Seddon and Morel for the furniture for Windsor Castle, having designed this table, amongst other pieces at the age of 14 or 15. He is best known for the interior of the Palace of Westminster (the British Houses of Parliament) and its iconic clock tower, which houses the bell known as Big Ben. He attended to all the fixtures and fittings from the enormous stained glass windows to desks and sofas and from the doorknobs to the encaustic tiles. Pugin believed in his “True Principles” of architecture and design (see illustrations previous page), that everything should suit the setting it was designed for and that items should be honest in their construction and avoid any frivolousness which served no function. A prodigious worker, having designed multiple parish churches with all their decorations, furniture and accoutrements, written several books and created over 20 different types of desk and over 100 different types of table for Westminster alone, Pugin died in 1852 aged just 40.
A Regency rosewood games table attributed to Gillows
A Regency rosewood games table attributed to Gillows, the shaped top with a central square slide, green-leathered on one side and inlaid with a chess board on the other, which opens to reveal a backgammon board with tric-trac peg holes, flanked by two hemispherical ends, each with a leather inset hinged, lockable top enclosing storage spaces, set above a panelled frieze with beaded borders, a single drawer on one side and a dummy on the other with six-point star handles and anthemion lock escutcheons, all raised on end supports braced with a central shaped stretcher and set on spandrel bases terminating in bold brass paw feet with inset castors. Original leathers. English, circa 1815 Footnote: The design for a rosewood sofa table in the sketch book of 13 April 1813, made for John Gladstone of Liverpool, father of the future Prime Minister, are published in Susan E Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008 Vol I, p.265, pl. 270. The design shows the sofa table and when the firm made the ‘sofa backgammon table, to suit the above’ (p267, pls 272 and 273) no expense was spared. With the extra tooled morocco leather for the interior backgammon board, the additional labour for that and inlaying the chess board and the 85 feet of brass beading at 3d per foot (as opposed to the 69ft on the sofa table) this version of the table, at £19 4s. 5d, cost a full pound more to produce. Sadly, there is no record of the sale price asked of Mr Gladstone.
George IV brass-inlaid rosewood centre table attributed to Gillows
A fine George IV brass-inlaid rosewood centre table attributed to Gillows, the circular tilt-top with beautifully matched veneers, decorated with a continuous brass frieze of contre-partie anthemion and scroll-leaf and brass stringing, all set on a deeply reeded solid rosewood support on a tripod base with powerful ormolu lion’s paw and scallop shell feet, with the original castors. English, circa 1820. Footnote: For a library table inlaid with the premiere-partie of the same leaf and anthemion boulle design see Susan E Stuart, ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840,’ Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008 Vol.I pp 291, pls 308 and 310. This style of table appears in Thomas Hope’s ‘Household Furniture and Interior Decoration’, 1807, and a closely related 1822 design for one of this pattern features in Gillows' Estimate Sketch Books, no. 3146. Sketches of related tables also feature in room plans made in the studios of Gillow & Co., 176 Oxford Street, London. The first, circa 1817, is housed in the Victoria & Albert Museum (Museum no. E.390-1955). Another appears in a design dated 1830 for a Library layout for ‘H.J.Thomp[son].’ (Stuart, ibid, Volume II, p. 352, plates E9 and E10). A sketch for a remarkably similar table appears in an anonymous coloured drawing of a drawing room which was also produced in the studios of Gillow & Co., 176 Oxford Street, London (Stuart, ibid, Volume II, p. 353, plate E12). The circular table in this sketch has the same ribbed edge, faceted shaft with waisted gadrooned socle, and is also set on a tri-form plinth with foliate-scrolled paw feet.
Mahogany dressing table attributed to Gillows of Lancaster
A fine mahogany dressing table attributed to Gillows of Lancaster, the shaped rectangular top with a central recess above the long concave drawer, flanked four small drawers, on reeded tapering legs and brass caps and casters, English c1810. This concave-fronted dressing-table is in the antique manner popularised by Thomas Hope's Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, London, 1807 and George Smith's Collection of Designs for Household Furniture, London, 1808. The general pattern for this table features in the 1806 Estimate Sketch Book, while a related example appears in their 1811 Account Book as 'A Handsome Mahogany five drawer dressing Table with rim and on turned reeded legs 6.16.6'. 'Gillows.Lancaster' is stamped on a related table supplied in 1811 to Parlington Hall, Aberford (illustrated in C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 380, cat. no. 500) and six of this form were supplied in 1813 to the 2nd Baron Bolton for Hackwood Park, Hampshire, four of which were sold from there, Christie's house sale, 20-22 April 1998, lots 356, 358, 359 and 360. A further table was sold, the Property of a Gentleman, Christie's London, 16 September 1999, lot 138 ($6,900).
A fine Regency gilt wood and marble centre table, attributed to Gillows
A fine Regency giltwood center table with an inlaid Ashford marble top in the manner of Gillows. The marble set into a gadrooned circular top above a central fluted baluster stem, with a tri-form plinth base on lion paw feet, re-gilt. Footnote: Ashford marble is in fact a type of limestone rather than a marble, which when polished, turns a deep glossy black. It is produced from only two quarries near Ashford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire. It proved popular as a building material and as early as 1580, Bess of Hardwick commissioned a chimney piece for Chatsworth. In the 18th century it was a popular material for ornaments being developed by Henry Watson of Bakewell, but it was not until the 19th century that it really became fashionable as a material for both ornaments and furniture, promoted by William Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire who encouraged this new development after admiring Florentine work in Italy. Examples of this work were exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and included a table by Tomlinson of Ashford, illustrated in Jonathan Meyer, Great Exhibitions, London- New York- Paris-Philadelphia 1851-1900, 2006, p.46, which is of similar form to the present table. Another piece, useful for comparison, is a table made by Birley for the International Exhibition of 1862 in London, which won prizes in the furniture and the mining classes. The table, which can be found in the Victoria and Albert collection (museum number 157&A-1864), is inlaid with coloured marbles and other stones; it was designed by J. Randell. Another Samuel Birley from 1862 forms part of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. For further comparison, The Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth, The House, 2002, p.108 illustrates a table of similar form in the Oak Room, Chatsworth. There is also a large urn in the same room featuring the same floral inlay found in this lot and in the Ashford marble ewers, lot 181.
An antique slate-top table by Magnus
A rare and unusual slate-top table by Magnus The shaped top is decorated in Magnus's unique method of enamelling slate to imitate pietra dura and sienna marble, with a border of fruiting cherries with birds at each corner on a black ground. The ornate gilded iron base comprises scrolling end supports joined by a turned stretcher. Literature: George Eugene Magnus was born in 1801, he spent some time in the Potteries area of Staffordshire and married Mary Boyle, the daughter of an earthenware manufacturer. Evidently he learned something of the art of decorating, glazing and firing pottery which he adapted onto slate to imitate marble and scagliola. In 1840 he patented his process of applying colour and glaze which was fired like enamel, a process he then used to decorate billiard tables and similar items of slate furniture. The extract from the letters patent reads …”The articles which I have manufactured from slate instead of other materials … and which I claim as new and never before made or known, and to the sole manufacture of which I consider myself entitled under the letter patent are billiard tables composed solely of slate that is the frame and legs as well as the bed or table…. Secondly my improvements consist in polishing and finishing such manufactured articles as are required for ornamental purposes by the following process … (here follows a list of instructions for enamelling slate) ….” Examples of Magnus billiard tables can be found at the Duke of Wellington’s residence at Stratfield Saye, Queen Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight - Osborne House and in the showrooms of 'Billiard Room Ltd' with whom we have exhibited several magnificent tables over the years. Signed/Inscribed: Signed 'Magnus' and bearing the diamond registration mark for 1856.
A Regency ormolu mounted rosewood two drawer writing table in the manner of John McLean and Gillows of Lancaster

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

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

An important rosewood and brass inlaid library table attributed to Gillows, from the period 1820-1830, features in Ibid, Vol. I, pl. 308, p. 291. This has closely comparable legs to the above and is of equivalently large proportions. Another variant to the current lot, which incorporates very similar legs, is one of a pair of rosewood pier tables attributed to Gillow and Co. also dating to the 1820s, that is pictured in Ibid, Vol. II, pl. E24, p. 359.  A further related piece is a rosewood side cabinet or commode attributed to Gillows, again made during 1820-1830 but most likely with elaborate brass 'Buhl' inlaid panels provided by Louis Constantin Le Gaigneur, which appears in Ibid, Vol. II, pl. 544, p. 17
A George IV campaign dining table by Charles Stewart with five additional leaves
This mahogany dining table is of rectangular form with rare hinged D-ends, swivel top and reeded edge.  It extends on an ingenious and complex action, with various levers and locks, which accommodates five additional leaves.  The frieze has outline mouldings raised upon four removable reeded, turned and tapering legs with the original brass caps and castors.  A brass plaque inscribed ‘Stewart, Inventor and Patentee, 115 St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross, London’ is attached to the cross bearer.  English, circa 1820. Height: 28 ¼ in (71.8cm) Length open: 11ft 1in (338cm) Closed: 54 in (137.2cm) square Literature: A. Brawer, British Campaign Furniture - Elegance under Canvas, 1740-1914, New York, 2001, p.30 pls. 19-21 for a very similar dining table by Stewart.  Here it is described as having 'the elegance and strength that would have made it ideal for an officers' mess about the time of the Battle of Waterloo'. When fully dismantled with the legs stowed away inside the D-ends, it would have been mere inches in height and 54 inches in length.  A very similar example from Norman Adams Ltd featured in Christopher Gilbert's ‘Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840’, figs. 883-885.  Another was advertised by John Bell of Aberdeen in Country Life, 10th July 1958 p.94. Charles Stewart's cabinet ‘making and upholding’ business was located in 115, St Martin's Lane from 1816 to 1820, when he moved to Regents Street.  Although he clearly had a general cabinetmaking business, there is no doubt that Stewart's contemporary fame rested on the designs of his dining tables.  He was granted a patent in 1810 for “certain improvements in the construction of dining and other tables” (patent number 3339) and his advertising in 1813 stated that “a great variety of the most fashionable articles may be seen at Stewart's Cabinet Warehouse, 115 St Martin's Lane, particularly his much approved Patent Dining Tables, which far surpass any thing of the kind ever offered to public notice”.
A Regency rosewood free standing end support writing table, by Gillows
A Regency rosewood free standing end support writing table, by Gillows, the leather inset rectangular top with a brass gallery above two frieze drawers on one side and two dummy drawers on the other, raised on flat pedestal ends joined by a turned and reeded stretcher, with extremely fine brass paw feet and disguised castors. English, circa 1815. Provenance H. Blairman and sons, advertised in Country Life on the 16th of December 1954 Blairmans were, and are, one of the most interesting and important of all English antique dealers. In particular they were one of a small number of firms that began to appreciate the importance of regency design and were instrumental in encouraging this taste amongst connoisseur collectors in the mid 20th century.   Footnote: In her definitive oeuvre‘Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840’, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008, Susan Stuart describes a suite of similar tables made for John Gladstone in Volume I pages 265-7. A sofa table is described thus – ‘One of the table’s most striking features is the bold brass line inlay round the top side edge, round the flat pedestal ends, drawer fronts, frieze rail, etc, some 69ft (21 metres) at 3d per foot. The brass paw feet are especially fine with tiny hairs and claw nails crisply cast. They were very expensive at 3gns.’ and ‘no expense was spared when the Lancaster firm made John Gladstone’s rosewood and brass line inlaid sofa backgammon table’illustrated in plates 272 and 273. She adds that the ‘gilt star’ knobs were fashionable at this period’.   Read our Gillows Blog here – The Furniture of Gillows and their design records 
A 19th century New Zealand specimen wood parquetry dodecagonal table, attributed to Anton Seuffert
A 19th century New Zealand specimen wood parquetry dodecagonal table, attributed to Anton Seuffert, inlaid with a central stellar of various indigenous woods including kauri, mangeao, towai and rimu on a rewarewa ground, the base in Australian cedar with spirally turned shaft and tripod legs carved with leaves and flowerheads on scroll feet.  Southern hemisphere, circa 1860. Footnote: Closely related examples by the celebrated cabinet-maker Anton Seuffert (1815-1887) of geometric inlaid tripod tables are illustrated in B. Peet, The Seuffert Legacy, pp. 111-114.  Seuffert intended his similar tables as drawing or sitting room furniture and referred to them as card tables, probably for depositing business or postal cards on rather than for playing cards.  Seuffert almost exclusively made circular tables and used concave rather than convex mouldings.  The use of well-seasoned cedar as a carcase wood, as in this example, has meant that the top has survived in a better state due to its low moisture content, as opposed to those produced in the sapwood, rimu or kauri. Anton Seuffert (1815-1887), was born in Bohemia and initially worked as cabinet maker in the court of the Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I.  After working in England for Leistler & Sons of Vienna, who had exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, he moved to New Zealand in 1859.  Seuffert established his own business specializing in the production of complex marquetry inlaid furniture and objects using the incredible variety of exotic woods available in New Zealand.  In the London 1862 exhibition the citizens of Auckland presented his standing writing desk to Queen Victoria.  His skill in marquetry and design  earned him recognition at the 1873 Vienna Exhibition and a medal at the Paris 1878 Exposition Universelle.  His sons joined him in the 1880s and the firm continued for over 80 years, cementing their reputation as New Zealand's premier suppliers of marquetry furniture.
A Charles X Tooled-leather Lamp Table
This rare Charles X table has a small round top with an aquatint inset under glass within an ormolu gallery. The engraving shows the Three Graces stealing arrows from Cupid as he sleeps curled up against a rock. The table itself comprises a frieze drawer in the central drum above a facetted straight support on three cabriole legs with brass castors. It is decorated throughout in gilt-tooled red leather with classical motifs and borders including armorial trophies, sphinxes and honey bees. French, circa 1825. This exquisite table showcases a captivating artwork by the renowned 18th-century Swiss artist Angelica Kauffman. The table displays a beautifully reproduced print of Kauffman's masterpiece, Cupid Disarm'd by the Graces, which features three graceful women playfully disarming Cupid. Kauffman, a prominent member of the Royal Academy, was celebrated for her Neoclassical style that emphasized harmony, balance, and idealized beauty. The image on the lamp table's surface is a testament to the skillful collaboration between Kauffman, printmaker G. Scorodoomo, and the Boydell family, a prominent English family of publishers, engravers, and print sellers. The Boydells played a crucial role in popularizing British art during the 18th and 19th centuries. The engraving captures the essence of Kauffman's original painting while adding depth and detail through the intricate printmaking process. Footnote: Born in 1741 in Switzerland, Angelica Kauffman was a gifted artist who gained recognition as one of the most successful female painters of her time. A member of the prestigious Royal Academy, Kauffman was celebrated for her portraits, history paintings, and decorative art. Her work was influenced by the Neoclassical movement, which emphasized harmony, balance, and idealized beauty. Cupid Disarm'd by the Graces: A Masterpiece by Kauffman One of Kauffman's most notable works, Cupid Disarm'd by the Graces, is an enchanting painting that showcases her mastery of composition and color. The painting features three graceful women surrounding a cherubic Cupid, playfully disarming him of his bow and arrows. The delicate balance of the figures, the soft color palette, and the harmonious interplay of the characters exemplify Kauffman's skill and the influence of the Neoclassical movement on her work.
An antique ebony chess table
The superb ebony table itself has a shaped rectangular top inset with an intricate penwork chess board within a silver frame and flanked by two inlaid acorn and oak leaf panels. The frieze is carved with a bold gadrooned edge above a single small disguised drawer on either side. The turned end supports are also deeply carved with flower heads and acanthus leaves. The origin of the intriguing decoration on this table is explained by several letters and scraps of paper bearing ink sketches for the designs; both roundels and lozenges. All the correspondence appears to have been to Luke Trapp Flood of Bellevue Lodge, Chelsea and Mrs Flood, Denfield, Dorking with an envelope post marked 1844. One letter is from George Jepson, dated January 24th 1843, applying for the post of Chaplain at the ‘New Prison of Clerkenwell’. In addition there are rules for Chess, Back gammon and ‘Crazy croquet’ handwritten by Luke Thomas Flood. Provenance: Luke Trapp Flood (b1809-) was the eldest son of Luke Thomas Flood (1775-1860), after whom Flood Street was named. Like his father, Luke was a magistrate, a generous patron of the arts and a benefactor of many causes; he attended meetings of the Mill Hill Providence Institution, the National School Committee, and was elected a Governor of the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Barnet. In 1841 he married Elizabeth (Bessie) Todd and they had six children, dividing their time between Bellevue Lodge, Chelsea, Dachet and Belmont, Mill Hill (presumably the large house built by James Paine in the 1760’s which is presently Mill Hill Preparatory School.) These hand-written diaries, which are included with the table, cover the period August 1853- December 1864 in seven volumes, 8vo, on 800 pages, of closely written script. They are very fully written-up with details of visits, the hiring and dismissal of servants, purchases, train journeys, family and business matters, visits to exhibitions and two tours of Scotland in 1859 and 1864. Prices are noted for anything from pocket money for his sons at Harrow to the £15.15.0 for a gold watch from Harrods. There is an entry recording a visit to Brighton to a Mr Pepper about the commission of a monument, which is no doubt the statue of Luke Thomas Flood for St Luke’s Church, Chelsea. Literature: In her book Penwork, A Decorative Phenomenon, Wetherby, 2008, pp 70-75, Noël Riley illustrates seven chess boards but they are all mounted on single pedestal tables and the decorative elements seem to be mainly classical or floral rather than geometric examples similar to these. However Figure 118, p92, shows a design on paper, currently in the Victoria and Albert Museum, “probably intended to be glued to a panel and protected with varnish for a table top”. Signed/Inscribed: Stamped Gillow.
An extending dining table from Durham Cathedral
A Superb late George III Mahogany Dining Table from Durham Cathedral. This unusual and versatile Regency mahogany extending dining table is constructed in four sections and has a reeded edge to the rounded rectangular top. The tilt-top end sections are raised on turned pillars with quadruple splayed legs. The two drop-leaf central sections have detachable leaves and 16 tapered square supports which open with a gateleg action. With brass cappings and castors. English, circa 1810. The Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral. This exceptional dining table was formerly in Durham Cathedral and was probably made for the Prior’s Hall, in the Deanery, when it served as a dining room. The Prior’s Hall is a 19th Century room with a medieval ante-room, formed within part of the monastic buildings attached to the Cathedral church and is now used for conferences, lectures and meetings. Latterly this table was used for meetings of the Trustees of the Lord Crewe Trust. (Nathaniel, Lord Crewe was Bishop of Durham from 1674 until 1722.)
Amboyna tables related to pieces supplied to George IV for Windsor Castle
We are delighted to offer four pieces of furniture (two illustrated) attributed to Morel and Seddon, one of the most important makers of the 19th century. Three of these pieces are library or writing tables and the fourth is a console table. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has been filmed behind an almost identical table in Buckingham Palace during several of her annual Christmas messages to the Nation (see image above and inside the front cover).  Below: A very similar Regency Amboyna and gilt library table attributed to Seddon and Morel, but with scroll feet. English, circa 1815.
A Victorian satinwood console table attributed to Wright and Mansfield
A Victorian satinwood console table attributed to Wright and Mansfield. This satinwood console table has a shaped top inlaid with floral swags centred on a classical urn. The frieze has three disguised drawers and is veneered in harewood with contrasting inlays above a central arch flanked by two small cupboards. Each door has an oval panel painted with a cherub and framed in mahogany. There are six square section tapering legs. English, circa 1880.  A similar table by Wright and Mansfield was exhibited in the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 and illustrated in The Art Journal p. 165. Published -  Christopher Payne,  ‘British Furniture 1820-1920: The Luxury Market.’ Woodbridge, 2023 p. 321 pl. 6.66  on and JUBILEE pp.106-7
A fine Victorian pollard oak centre table, in the manner of Bridgens
A fine Victorian pollard oak centre table, in the manner of Bridgens, the circular top with radiating flame veneers set upon a cluster of pillars, flanked by four large C-scroll supports enclosing S-scroll openwork panels, all on a cruciform base with bun feet. English, circa 1870. Footnote: This fine centre table is executed in beautifully mellowed pollard oak of a particularly glorious colour.  Although it has not been possible to find an exact design source for this piece this is not unusual as, in the 19th century, fashions moved very quickly and there were many excellent designers working on their own alternative versions of classic pieces of furniture.  With its particularly elegant and light proportions, this table brings to mind the work of Richard Bridgens, co-designer with George Bullock of some of the most refined furniture of the early part of the 19th century such as much of the gothic furniture at Sir Walter Scott's Abbotsford.  Bridgens' only published work Furniture with Candelabra and Interior Decoration (published in 1838) illustrates only a small number of designs, but these are sufficient to show the taste of the designer.
A Regency mahogany dressing table attributed to Gillows
A Regency mahogany dressing table attributed to Gillows, the shaped top above one centre drawer flanked by two drawers on one side and a double depth drawer on the other, on turned tapering legs with the original brass castors. English, circa 1815.   Footnote: Dressing tables of this type were first popularised by Thomas Hope's ‘Household Furniture and Interior Decoration’, London, 1807 and George Smith's ‘Collection of Designs for Household Furniture’, London, 1808. 'Gillows, Lancaster' is stamped on a related table supplied in 1811 to Parlington Hall, Aberford (illustrated in C. Gilbert, ‘Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall’, London, 1978, vol. II, p. 380, cat. no. 500) and six of this form were supplied in 1813 to the 2nd Baron Bolton for Hackwood Park, Hampshire, see Christie's house sale, 20-22 April 1998, lots 356, 358, 359 and 360.
William IV rosewood partners’ library table by Gillows
A William IV rosewood partners’ library table by Gillows, the rectangular flame-veneered top with rounded corners and gadrooned edging, the frieze with two disguised drawers on either side, English, c1830.   See Susan E Stuart ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840,’ Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008, Vol. I, p.292, pl. 311, for a very similar rosewood table impressed GILLOWS LANCASTER.  This popular design was illustrated in the 28 December 1827 Estimate Sketch Books but shows a standard, but smaller, two-drawer table with both
A Mahogany chamber writing table by Gillows
A mahogany chamber writing table by Gillows, of rounded rectangular form with a single frieze drawer set upon turned tapering legs, the top inset with a hidden pen tray and inkwell holders, with the original brass castors, English circa 1800. Footnote: For a sketch of this type of table see Gillows ‘Estimate Sketch Book’ 1810 No344/144, p11 (Westminster City Archives). Gillows supplied four similar tables to T W Egerton for Tatton Park, Cheshire in 1811 ref. N. Goodison & J Hardy ‘Gillows at Tatton Park Cheshire: Furniture History’ 1970 pp28,30,32,35 pl 168.
A Regency figured pollard oak end support writing table from Asprey & Co Ltd
This free-standing table is of unusually slender proportions with a shaped rectangular top above two frieze drawers on one side and dummy drawers on the other.  It is raised on end supports with short, splayed feet terminating in foliate brass feet and castors.  The decoration relies largely on the superb pollard oak veneers, but there are restrained ebony bead borders and stringing.  The lock plates are stamped London England/Lever.  English, circa 1815. Height: 28¼ in (72cm) Width: 54¼ in (138cm) Depth: 26½ in (67.5cm) £8,800 Provenance: Asprey & Co Ltd, 1969 A distinguished American Private Collection During the Regency period there was a shift towards the use of native British woods led by the designer and cabinetmaker George Bullock, who championed the use of pollard oak.  This fine table is veneered in pollard oak of quite exceptional figure and colour and has faded beautifully and mellowed wonderfully with age.  Asprey & Co Ltd was established in 1781 by William Asprey and was instantly recognized as a luxury brand supplying jewellery, silverware and gifts for ‘people of refinement and discernment’.  In 1862, Asprey’s received a royal warrant from Queen Victoria and has, in its illustrious 240 years, crafted crowns, coronets and sceptres for numerous royal families.  However, it is important to remember that for many years Asprey was one of the finest places in Britain in which to purchase antiques of the highest quality.  The firm exhibited at the Grosvenor House Antiques Fair for many years, having one of the largest stands there, and many dealers who began their careers at Asprey went on to become renowned independent dealers once the firm closed its antiques department.
A Regency mahogany serving table attributed to Gillows

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.

Footnote: Gillows of Lancaster, the renowned furniture makers, were the masters of 18th and 19th-century furniture. The company was founded by Robert Gillow in 1730 and quickly gained a reputation for creating exquisite, handcrafted furniture that was both innovative and timeless. Throughout its long history, Gillows produced furniture that was celebrated for its beauty, craftsmanship, and attention to detail. Their pieces were sought after by the aristocracy, wealthy merchants, and prestigious institutions all over the world. From stately dining tables to elegant armchairs, Gillows' furniture graced the grandest homes and public buildings of its time. Gillows' success was due in part to its skilled craftsmen and its innovative use of materials and manufacturing processes. They were particularly renowned for their use of mahogany, which was in high demand during the 18th century. The company's use of new technologies, such as steam-powered machinery, allowed them to produce furniture more efficiently, without compromising on quality. Despite experiencing financial difficulties in 1814, Gillows of Lancaster continued to produce high-quality furniture, and in 1897, the company merged with Waring of Liverpool to become Gillow & Co. Ltd. The new company continued to create stunning, handcrafted furniture that was both elegant and functional. Today, Gillows' furniture is highly prized by collectors and antique enthusiasts worldwide. The pieces available here on the Wick Antiques website are a testament to the company's legacy. Each piece has been carefully restored, bringing out the exquisite details and beauty of the original design. At Wick Antiques, we are proud to offer a selection of Gillows' finest pieces, showcasing the company's skillful craftsmanship, innovative designs, and commitment to quality. From sumptuous sofas to refined desks and cabinets, our collection of Gillows furniture represents the pinnacle of English furniture-making. Read our Gillows Blog here – The Furniture of Gillows and their design records 
A George IV rosewood tray top table, attributed to Gillows

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.

Read our Gillows Blog here – The Furniture of Gillows and their design records 
An extensive burled and figured pollard oak dining table and chairs by Gillows
An extensive burled and figured pollard oak dining table and chairs by Gillows, of rectangular form with D-ends and 11 leaves, all on turned and fluted walnut legs, with centre supports and an oak two-door leaf press for 11 leaves, each numbered.  Stamped Gillow 9195.  English, circa 1870. Provenance: Sotheby’s Stokesey Court.  Lot 45 18 Sep 1994 Stokesay Court Situated near Ludlow in Shropshire, Stokesay Court is a Victorian house of high importance that replaced a much more modest earlier home on the same site. The Stokesay estate was bought by John Derby Allcroft and developed from 1869 onwards. Allcroft was a millionaire businessman whose fortune came from the glove making industry and his connection with the firm Dents-still Royal Warrant holders today. The architect employed at Stokesay was Thomas Harris-a specialist in the popular Gothic style of the time. Apparently he was the first person to coin the phrase “Victorian architecture” and certainly from our modern perspective, his work encapsulates the very best that that term has to offer. The design of Stokesay was based around a concept of what Dr John Martin Robinson referred to as “zones”. The house was divided into areas fit for certain uses-for example one wing was for Allcroft's bachelor sons, another for the use of the female relatives and servants had a wing of their own. The house itself was built from 1888 onwards. Apart from the wonderful architecture, no expense was spared on the fixtures and fittings of the house. It was fitted with electricity throughout-something that added considerably to the overall bill for the work-and the leading firms of the day were employed to fit it out to its best advantage. Hampton and Sons of Pall Mall supplied oak panelling and upholstery throughout the house and they also acted as furniture brokers. Hamptons polished our dining table in 1895 and reupholstered the set of dining chairs at the same time. The pieces were in fact ordered by Allcroft from Gillows in the 1860s for his home in Lancaster Gate and were clearly considered important enough to be moved between the two properties. Allcroft certainly had the funds to have purchased dining furniture specifically  for Stokesay but his treasured Gillows pieces were clearly considered, quite rightly, to be heirlooms for the future that ought to be re-used. Read our Gillows Blog here – The Furniture of Gillows and their design records 
A matched pair of satinwood tables after Donald Ross, retailed by Edwards and Roberts
A matched pair of satinwood tables after Donald Ross, retailed by Edwards and Roberts, each in the style of Louis XV with a rectangular top above a single frieze drawer, raised on four square section tapering legs joined by a solid shelf with an ormolu gallery, decorated throughout with parquetry trellis in purpleheart and lavish, high quality ormolu mounts, stamped ‘Edwards & Roberts’. English, circa 1860. Footnotes: Donald Ross, of 13 Denmark Street, Soho, London, exhibited a drawing room suite at the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851, and the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London, shows a pair of side tables similar to these two. In the later stages of the 19th century Ross appears to have made a speciality of ‘dotted parquetry trellis’ popularised by Garnier and Sene in 18th century Paris. It is known that he supplied furniture to important furniture retailers including Gillows and Edwards & Roberts. Edwards & Roberts was founded in 1845, and had premises at 21 Wardour Street London. By 1892 they occupied more than a dozen buildings in Wardour Street, where they continued to trade until the end of the century. They became one of the leading London cabinet makers and retailers working in a variety of styles, both modern and revivalist. Their business also involved retailing, adapting and restoring the finest antique furniture and there are many examples of their earlier furniture with later embellishments bearing their stamp. Edwards & Roberts specialized in marquetry, inlay and ormolu.
An ‘imperial’ action mahogany extending dining table attributed to Gillows
An ‘imperial’ action mahogany extending dining table attributed to Gillows, the ‘D’ ends with five leaves extending it to almost 11 feet long, all supported on 8 fine, tapering, reeded legs.  English, c1810. Footnote:  Susan E Stuart in ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840,’ Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008 Vol.I pp 243-246, 240-242 dedicates a whole section to imperial action tables.  The first one was designed in 1804 and illustrated in the Lancaster Estimate Sketch Book.  The one in plate 241(ibid) has very similar tapering legs, deep veneered frieze and reeded edge and was made for Stephen Tempest of Broughton Hall in 1813.
Mahogany centre table from Clumber Park, seat of the 7th Duke of Newcastle
A mahogany centre table from Clumber Park, seat of the 7th Duke of Newcastle, the rectangular top with a gadrooned edge set upon four sturdy tapering and shaped hexagonal legs, joined to a flat X-frame stretcher, bearing an inventory label with a crowned letter N Clumber 2442 and stamped Johnstone Jupe & Co, New Bond St, London 2751. English c1840. Footnote: Johnstone Jupe & Co of New Bond Street made furniture from 1835 -1840 then subsequently became Johnstone & Jeans after 1842. The Company was best known for the design and manufacture of metamorphic furniture most notably the ‘Jupe Dining Table’. Provenance: The 7th Duke of Newcastle, Clumber House, Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire (now National Trust.)
A burr elm and gilt-metal low table of regency/empire style
A burr Elm and gilt-metal low table of regency/empire style, with lion mask monopodia supports. There has been a great resurgence in vintage furniture and this particular table shows how the earlier styles have been copied and updated through the ages. The use of quality amboyna with gilded metal ware was used a great deal during the empire period in the Early part of the 19th century, here we see its use agin in the late 20th century.
Gillows rosewood library table
A rare and interesting Gillows rosewood library table created in collaboration with George Bullock, the rectangular top with an amboyna panel enclosed by a boulle work brass and ebony border, the frieze with two disguised drawers, the amboyna end supports comprising four turned columns on arched legs and a turned stretcher, all with further counter-part boulle work of scrolls and palmettes, with ornate ormolu castors. Footnote: Susan Stuart in 'Gillows of Lancaster and London' Vol. I, p268, pl . 276, shows a Gonçalo alves writing table with a similar brass border. However this example is more elaborately decorated in boulle work on the legs and feet. The Bullock family had a long standing affiliation with the Gillows company from the 18th century and it is even possible that William Bullock worked as a journeyman for Gillows in Lancaster
Striking Regency mahogany serving/console table, after a design by George Smith
An unusual and striking Regency mahogany serving/console table, after a design by George Smith, the shaped top above a deep frieze enclosing one disguised central drawer, decorated with ebony inlays of stripes and unusual Z-scrolls, all supported by four reeded lion-mask monopodia with paw feet on the front and two flat pilasters to the back. English, circa 1815. Footnote: For the probable inspiration for this table see ‘George Smith, A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration’, New York: Praeger Publishers, 1970 [1808]; p 17, pl 92. George Smith dedicated his book of designs, published in 1808, to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, to whom he claimed to be 'Upholder Extraordinary'. Exhibitions: Lapada 2018
Regency mahogany twin pillar dining table
A Regency mahogany twin pillar dining table, of rectangular form with two shaped ends and an additional original leaf, raised on two central turned pillars, each with four high shouldered splayed legs terminating in brass lion’s paw castors, English, 1815. Also able to convert to a breakfast table. H 29 W 54 L 52 plus leaf 77in
Regency mahogany console table
A Regency mahogany console table, of rectangular form with two bold acanthus scroll supports terminating in lion’s paw feet on a gadrooned plinth, English, c1815. The quality of construction, design and choice of timber used this this handsome piece would suggest that the famous firm of Gillow were almost certainly the makers o& the console table.
A Victorian amboyna centre table of exhibition quality
A Victorian exhibition quality amboyna centre table, attributed to Holland and Sons, The oval tilt top set upon a pyramidal base with four bold scrolling legs, decorated with high quality ormolu mounts and inlays of stephanotis rendered in coloured woods and ivory on a satinwood ground within harewood borders. Provenance: Footnote: This table is attributable to Holland and Sons because of the ivory inlays and use of satinwood with amboyna. Holland and Sons of London were first recorded in 1803 as Taprell and Holland. Under the management of William Holland, a relative of the famous Regency architect Henry Holland, they became cabinetmakers and upholsterers to Queen Victoria; their first commission being Osborne House in 1845. Granted the Royal Warrant in 1846, the company went on to supply Windsor Castle, Balmoral and also the new Houses of Parliament. In 1851 they exhibited at the Great Exhibition and were represented at all the major exhibitions thereafter.
Regency specimen marble top table
A fine antique late Regency rosewood library centre table raised upon turned end supports with trestle supports and carved paw feet. the original specimen marble top has a 17th century panel through the centre. Provenance: There are many features to this table that point to a good attribution of Gillow, especially the rosewood bobbin edge and use of trestle support with paw feet and the turned wooden knobs are very typical of Gillow.
Napoleon III cast iron console table
A rare late 19th century cast iron serpentine marble top console table retaining its original painted decoration to the flowers on the front. A most unusual feature of this fine table is the Chinese influence with a gentleman smoking at the bottom.
A companion pair of demi-lune bow and arrow tables by Alix
A companion pair of demi-lune bow and arrow tables by Alix,each freestanding table with an ormolu gallery and disguised frieze drawer, all raised on four stylised quivers joined by a drawn bow and ormolu arrow, inlaid throughout with a variety of exotic woods with a fan and floral motifs, one on a satinwood ground, the other rosewood, one signed.
Regency Rosewood Centre Table
This brass-inlaid rectangular table has pendant paired scrolls on the sides and corners. The legs are composed of twin bow shaped supports, terminating with sabots above porcelain castors, joined by a central shaped stretcher. The decoration consists of ormolu mounts of patera, scrolls and other classical ornament and restrained brass stringing. Footnote: George Oakley, cabinet maker and upholsterer, specialized in rosewood, satinwood and calamander pieces in the Grecian style, frequently inlaid with ebony or brass. Much favoured by the Prince Regent he worked at Carlton House and gained a Royal Warrant in 1799. It is likely that he supplied card tables of a related design for the Music Room at Buckingham Palace. This, coupled with extensive premises in Bond Street and the City, ensured a stream of prestigious commissions for the Mansion House, the Bank of England, Thomas Baring (banker), Lady Cotton of Madingley Hall and Edward, Lord Lascelles, for Harewood House, Hanover Square. Examples of the furniture he supplied to Papworth Hall in 1810 are illustrated in F.Collard, Regency Furniture, 1985, p.107.
A Regency mahogany writing table attr. to Gillows
A Regency mahogany writing table attr. to Gillows of Lancaster with a replaced tooled leather inset top above two drawers to each side, on standard end supports on platforms and shell-carved claw feet. Provenance: Although not stamped Gillows the present table can be attributed to Gillows on the grounds of similar one being known to have been supplied by Gillows to John Cust, 1st Earl of Brownlow (d.1853) for Belton House, Lincolnshire and Carlton House Terrace, London and subsequently sold by the Lord Brownlow at Christie's house sale. Belton House, Lincolnshire, 30th April-2nd May 1984, lot 88. the exceptional fine construction of the present lot is also consistent with the output of the firm. A related example was sold from the collection of the late Sir Frederick Richmond , Bart., Christie's London, Important English Furniture, 29th November 2001, lot 260.
A pair of 10′ table globes by Malbyand sons
A pair of 10' table globes by Malby and Sons. Manufactured and published under the superintendence of The Society for the Diffusion of the Knowledge. Untouched condition. The Malby family of map and globe makers was started by Thomas Malby, Sr. about 1839 and continued producing globes until the turn of the 20th century. The firm operated as Malby & Son with Thomas Malby, Jr. and globes produced by the company generally were engraved by C. Malby -- presumably a family member -- and later continued by Thomas Malby III. Malby produced a variety of table globes in many sizes as well as an interesting pocket globe. The depiction of the lines of magnetic variation on a globe was a Malby innovation. The Malby firm associated itself with the geographical publishing of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK). By 1862, Malby globes designed for the SDUK were published by Edward Stanford (1827-1904) whose company is still in business today. Malby also worked with James Wyld, a map, atlas, and globemaker. The firm of Wyld also sold Malby globes.
A fine regency rosewood end support library table
A fine regency rosewood end support library table with fine quality original mounts. A particularly unusual feature about this lovely table is that the large mounts at the top of the end support are gilded cast iron.
Victorian silver-plate side table
A RARE AND UNUSUAL VICTORIAN SILVER-PLATE SIDE TABLE The rectangular top with bevelled edges and rams's-head and ring corner mounts, raised on four slender tapering legs joined by arched stretchers centered on a foliate finial, decorated throughout with dense embossed and chased flowers, leaves and foliate scrolls round a central field containing an heraldic lion and tendrils entwined round the legs, some restoration to the under-stretchers, rubbed through to the copper in places. Circa 1870 Footnote: Attributed to Giovanni Franchi and son of Clerkenwell, London. A table was made by this firm in 1868,which is exhibited at Victoria and Albert Museum. in 18th century manner, the rectangular top with a leaf cast border, embossed with scrolls and flowers around a central panel engraved with a crest depicting a lion, the frieze with conforming embossed ornament on turned tapering legs joined by a shaped stretcher.
An antique library table by Holland & Sons
An exhbition quality library table by Holland & Sons This splendid rectangular amboyne table is raised upon square-section tapering legs with stop-fluting above the feet and castors. It is decorated throughout with satinwood and ebony banding and borders, with purple-heart inlays. There are also carved giltwood terminals to the legs and ormolu mounts around the edge. Literature: Holland and Sons of London were first recorded in 1815 as Taprell and Holland. Under the management of William Holland, a relative of the famous Regency architect Henry Holland, they became cabinetmakers and upholsterers to Queen Victoria; their first commission being Osborne House in 1845. Granted the Royal Warrant in 1846, the company went on to supply Windsor Castle, Balmoral and also the new Houses of Parliament. In 1851 they exhibited at the Great Exhibition and were represented at all the major exhibitions thereafter.
2 terrestrial table globes
A“Geographia” 6” Table Globe 1923 This buff terrestrial globe is set within a brass mount supported by a turned ebonised pedestal and carries the maker’s label Geographia 6inch Terrestrial Globe, Railways, Steamer route distances in Sea miles. Height in English feet. British Possessions Red. Geographia (1923) Ltd. 55 Fleet Str. London EC4. A 'Smith’s 6” Table Globe This blue terrestrial globe is set within a brass mount supported by a turned ebonised pedestal and carries the maker’s label Smith’s Terrestrial Globe Shewing the latest Discoveries to the present time, London, Smith & Son, 63 Charing Cross. Circa 1910
A very fine Regency mahogany and specimen marble table, attributed to Gillows

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 late Regency mahogany serving table attributed to Gillows
The breakfront rectangular top is raised upon four front and two back scroll legs carved with acanthus leaves and raised on hairy-paw feet. The panelled frieze encloses a disguised mahogany-lined central drawer and is decorated with brass stringing and a central foliate mount flanked by an athemion above each leg. English, circa 1820. Robert Gillow came to Lancaster as a cabinetmaker around 1730 after a stint at sea in the West Indies. He developed first a national and then an international reputation as a supplier of quality furniture. He is credited with being the first person to import and work with mahogany, having his own fleet bringing timber and rum from the colonies. His three sons joined the firm in the 1750s and had opened a branch in Oxford Street, London, by 1764. The company enjoyed its unique position as a provincial firm with showrooms in the capital for nearly two centuries. Alongside traditional furniture production, Gillows established a reputation for the outfitting of luxury yachts and liners, including the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert and liners Lusitania, Heliopolis and Cairo, RMS Queen Mary (1934) and Queen Elizabeth (1946) for Cunard. To this day “Gillows” is a byword for high-quality cabinet making. There are two pencil drawings for this style of table in the Gillow’s ‘Estimate Sketch-book’, now in the Westminster City Archive. 
A pair of George III rosewood Sheraton period card tables
A pair of George III rosewood Sheraton period card tables, each rounded rectangular hinged top with satinwood cross-banding and kingwood edging, the frieze with black and gilt painted tablets showing putti representing the Arts and the Sciences, all raised on solid turned, tapering satinwood legs, the interior with blue baize (replaced).  English, circa 1800.
Early Victorian mahogany console tables attributed to Gillows
An unusual pair of early Victorian mahogany console tables attributed to Gillows, each demi-lune top set above four tapering, reeded and turned legs, the frieze decorated with bead and reel mouldings, on the original brass castors, English, 1840. Footnote: For other examples of this type of leg see Susan E Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008 Vol I, p.246, pl. 243, p289 pl. 306 and p326 pl.372.
A late Victorian mahogany serving table in the Regency style
A late Victorian mahogany serving table in the Regency style, the rectangular top with two frieze drawers, set upon tapering reeded legs, the panelled drawer fronts decorated in flame mahogany and with the original ring handles. English, c1890.
A Victorian specimen marble table by Gillow & Co 1878
A Victorian specimen marble table by Gillow & Co, 1878, the circular black and gilt top supported by a tripod base and inset with a roundel of haphazard pieces of marble and semi-precious stones including malachite and quartz, stamped ‘Gillows & Co. 7186 (for output in 1878).’ English. Height 29” Max diameter 24”. Diameter of roundel 20”
A kingwood marquetry envelope card table
A kingwood marquetry envelope card table, the square top rotating for the four triangular flaps to unfold and reveal the baize playing surface, the single freize drawer with a lock stamped ‘Edwards & Roberts’, all raised on four cabriole legs with gilt mounts.  English, circa 1880.  
A Louis Philippe giltwood demi-lune console table

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.

A George III mahogany side table
A George III mahogany side table, the serpentine top set above a fluted frieze, all raised on four straight gadrooned legs with acanthus-carved spandrels.  English, circa 1890.  
A late Regency rosewood end support table Gillows or Holland and Sons
A late Regency rosewood end support table Gillows or Holland and Sons, the rounded rectangular top set above a frieze with two drawers on one side and dummy drawers on the other, the solid end supports joined by a turned and knopped stretcher. English, circa 1820.  
A companion pair of William IV flame-mahogany card tables
A companion pair of William IV flame-mahogany card tables, each the rectangular hinged top opening to reveal a green baize playing surface and a storage compartment, the frieze with carved acanthus scroll corners, all raised on a turned and gadrooned support with a quadr-form platform base, on four scroll feet and concealed castors.  English, circa 1835.  
An usual pair of Regency rosewood side tables, firmly attributed to Gillows of Lancaster
An usual pair of Regency rosewood side tables, firmly attributed to Gillows of Lancaster, each with a rectangular top decorated with a panel of book-matched veneers within satinwood banding, all on rosewood turned baluster spindles joined by a concave satinwood stretcher, with paper labels reading ‘Lady Child……’.  English, circa 1815
A pair of late Regency flame mahogany console tables
A pair of late Regency flame mahogany console tables, each of rectangular form with two supports in the form of volute scrolls carved with acanthus leaves, the panelled backs with beaded borders, all on a high, shaped plinth.  English, circa 1820.  
A 12 inch Franklin terrestrial table globe by Nims & Co, New York
A 12 inch Franklin terrestrial table globe by Nims & Co, New York, the twelve gores engraved and hand-coloured, with a brass calibrated meridian ring and papered horizon ring, all raised on a tripod cast iron base,  the cartouche reading “The Franklin Terrestrial Globe, 12 inches in diameter containing all the Geographical Divisions & Political Boundaries to the present date, carefully compiled from the best Authorities. H.B. Nims & Co., Troy. N.Y. Rae Smith engraver, N.Y.” American, circa 1870.   Footnote:  The first Franklin terrestrial globe was issued in the mid-1850s by Merriam & Moore, booksellers in Troy, N.Y. They would issue several new editions over the course of the next half century and were supplied by a succession of globe makers, including H.B. Nims & Co., later named Nims & Knight.
A mid-Victorian free-standing walnut writing table by Holland and Sons
A mid-Victorian free-standing walnut writing table by Holland and Sons, the rectangular top with two frieze drawers, raised on turned, tapering cylindrical legs, with the original knobs and castors, stamped ‘Holland & Sons’.  English, 1875. Footnote:  Holland and Sons of London were first recorded in 1815 as Taprell and Holland.  Under the management of William Holland, a relative of the famous Regency architect Henry Holland, they became cabinetmakers and upholsterers to Queen Victoria; their first commission being Osborne House in 1845.  Granted the Royal Warrant in 1846, the company went on to supply Windsor Castle, Balmoral and also the new Houses of Parliament.  In 1851 they exhibited at the Great Exhibition and were represented at all the major exhibitions thereafter.
A Victorian walnut revolving book table
A Victorian walnut revolving book table, of typical form with a circular top above three shaped open book-shelves which revolve around a central turned support, all raised on three down-swept legs.  English, 1880.  
A Regency figured rosewood tilt-top centre table
A Regency figured rosewood tilt-top centre table, the circular top with a wide sloping edge, set on a solid tripod support and tri-form base with solid rosewood scrolls, raised on scroll-and-paw feet with the original disguised castors.  English, c1815.  
Napoleon III Rosewood and Marquetry Writing Table
A Napoleon III free-standing rosewood centre table attributed to A Hébert, the serpentine top above a shaped frieze with a long, disguised drawer on one side, the top and sides decorated in kingwood with cube parquetry within a boxwood border with floral arrangements and scrolls in the corners, with a solid rosewood moulding, the slender cabriole legs inlaid with pendant husks and with ormolu sabots, partial maker’s stamp ‘A. Heb… Avenue Daum..’ French, circa 1870. H 30 ½ ” W 52” D 30”                                                                       £8,800   Footnote: A. Hébert was the son of Victor Hébert. He moved to 24 avenue Daumesnil in 1872.  He exhibited at Lyon in 1872 and won a silver medal at the Paris 1878 Exposition.  
A pair of George IV mahogany table mirrors attributed to Gillows
A pair of George IV mahogany table mirrors attributed to Gillows, each with an adjustable rectangular plate, set between two tapering, reeded and turned supports with a flowerhead finial, knob and feet, the stepped, shaped base veneered in flame mahogany.  English, c1820.  
A Scottish mahogany breakfast table
A Scottish mahogany breakfast table, the rectangular top with rounded corners decorated with boxwood stringing and rosewood banding inside the gadrooned edge, raised on a sturdy central turned and gadrooned support with four squat legs with carved patera and acanthus on the knees, the hairy lions’ paw feet disguising the original brass castors.  Scottish, c 1830.  
A George III mahogany tilt-top occasional table
A George III mahogany tilt-top occasional table, the circular top made from a single piece, raised on a turned vase-shaped support.  English, c1800.  
A miniature mahogany table bookcase of Diamond Classic
A miniature 19th century mahogany table bookcase of Diamond Classics, of rectangular form with a serpentine cresting above two shelves of 45 volumes bound in gilt-tooled blue leather, all behind a sliding glass panel.  English, circa 1848.  
A superb pair of giltwood console tables with original marble tops
A pair of imposing gilt-wood console tables, each with the original rectangular breche violette marble top set on an elaborate deep-carved gilt-wood base with trellis work centred on a scallop shell flanked by acanthus fronds to the frieze, each cloven-hoofed leg with a grotesque dragon peering out from the spandrel, its fangs bared, wings half furled and tail coiled, all joined by an entwined scrolling stretcher. French C1880

A Napoleon III mahogany side table
A Napoleon III mahogany side table, the circular top with two disguised frieze drawers alternating with two slides, set upon stop-fluted tapering legs on turned brass castors, decorated with quarter veneers and ormolu mounts.  French, c 1870.   H 29 ½ in Diam.  31 ¾ in    
A stylish Art Deco zebra wood centre or dining table
A stylish Art Deco zebra wood centre or dining table, the top and solid stretcher with rounded ends below both decorated with dramatic quarter veneers with a central diamond, the frieze with chevrons and plain brass edging, all set upon six reeded ebonised legs with brass collars, arranged in two groups of three at either end.   French, c 1920.
A pair of mahogany side tables in the Chippendale style
A pair of mahogany side tables in the Chippendale style, each square top with a pierced fretwork gallery above a blind fret frieze, all set upon cluster column legs joined by an X-shaped fretwork stretcher. English, circa 1900.  
A pair of Carys 12 inch library table globes in mahogany stands
A pair of Carys 12 inch library table globes in mahogany stands, each on a reeded baluster stem with a tripod base and fitted compass, one bezel replaced, retaining the original varnish apart from an area of conservation around the South Pole of terrestrial globe, the celestial globe dated 1800 and the terrestrial with dated papers to 1809. Measures: Height 23 3/4 in, diameter 17 in
A Japanese black lacquer side table, with engraved brass mounts and gilt decorated trailing foliage and flowers
A Japanese black lacquer side table, with engraved brass mounts and gilt decorated trailing foliage and flowers, the top with curved ends above three tiers, two with cupboards with hinged doors, the inside of the doors decorated with bamboo on a speckled ground on bracket feet.
Giant English four glass table regulator with World Time dial and Perpetual Calendar by Lund & Blockley
A fine and rare giant English four glass table regulator with World Time dial and Perpetual Calendar by Lund & Blockley, the rectangular silvered dial with world time indication on the main dial for London with six subsidiary dials for Calcutta (Kolkata), Sydney, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Yeddo (name changed to Tokyo in 1869) and New York. The perpetual calendar displayed with an aperture below XII for the months of the year and subsidiary dials for the day of the week and date of the month, with blued steel hands. The massive chain fusee six pillar movement with dead beat escapement and Harrison's maintaining power. The gilt brass case with bevelled glazed panels and hinged doors to the front and rear. Signed on the backplate ‘Lund & Blockley, to the Queen, Pall Mall. London, 2/266.’ English, c1870. Footnote: Lund & Blockley comprised John Alexander Lund & Herbert Blockley who worked at 42 Pall Mall London from 1872-1876 (successors to Viner), and had a branch in Bombay, India. They were retailers and manufacturers of house and turret clocks, including for Queen Victoria, between 1875 and 1905. In addition, the firm was highly regarded for its specialised travel and expedition watches which were recommended by the Royal Geographical Society for all the explorations it sponsored at the time. Provenance: Sir Charles Morrison-Bell, 1st Baronet of Otterburn Hall, Northumberland, (1833-1914) and thence by descent through the female line to the Stonborough family at Glendon, Corfe Mullen, Dorset.
A walnut side table/jardinière by Gillows probably after Augustus Pugin
A walnut side table/jardinière by Gillows, probably after Augustus Pugin, the rectangular top lifting out to reveal a brass lining (replaced) for planting, raised upon turned legs enclosing a galleried shelf above crossbars with the original castors, decorated throughout in the Gothic Revival style with tulip-wood inlaid rosettes, flowerheads and quatrefoils. Stamped Gillows. English, c1880.
A Matched Pair of Oak Side Tables Attributed to Liberty’s
A matched pair of oak side tables attributed to Liberty’s, each of rectangular form with four turned legs and two shelves, the ends enclosed with turned lattice work. English, c 1910. Footnote: Arthur Lazenby Liberty founded the eponymous store in 1875 as an emporium inspired by bazaars in the East and Japanese objets d’art. In the 1880s he encouraged the development of the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau movements through English designers, especially Archibald Knox and William Morris. So much so that in Italy, Art Nouveau became known as the Stile Liberty, after the London shop.
A Victorian mahogany table library magnifying glass
A Victorian mahogany table library magnifying glass, English, circa 1840.
Pair of Victorian gilt cast-iron console tables with marble tops
A pair of Victorian gilt cast-iron console tables with black marble and pietra dura tops. Each inlaid with various hardstones including amethyst, malachite, jaspers and lapis lazuli, one with coat of arms and motto 'A DEO ET REGE' - for God and for King -. On cast iron bases each with registration marks underneath, the porcelain castors stamped C.PATENT. Provenance: The arms are those of Stanhope accole with Stanhope with Green in pretence, for Leicester Stanhope, 5th Earl of Harrington C.B. (1784-1862)and his wife Elisabeth(d. 1867), daughter of William Green of Trelawney, Jamaica, whom he married in 1831. He was made a Companion of the Bath for his military service and awarded the Greek Order of the Redeemer, both which appear beneath the dexter arms.
Superb pair of rosewood lamp tables by Grohé of Paris
A superb pair of rosewood lamp tables by Grohé of Paris, each with a rectangular top set above a frieze with a single drawer and a drinks slide (these are left and right handed), all set upon solid rosewood fluted, turned and tapering legs joined by a solid shelf, the top, slides, shelf and frieze all decorated with quarter veneers within kingwood bands, stamped ‘Grohé of Paris’.
A pair of French ormolu low side tables
A fine pair of French ormolu low side tables, of rectangular form with bead and ribbon borders above tapering legs in the form of classical flambeaux, with later black glass tops, c 1920.
A walnut library table by Alexandre Chevrié
A walnut library table by Alexandre Chevrié, of rectangular form with two frieze drawers set above slender cabriole legs, decorated with quarter veneers, mahogany banding and classical ormolu mounts, signed ‘Chevrié á Paris’. French c 1880.
A matched pair of late Victorian satinwood tray tables
A matched pair of late Victorian satinwood tray tables, each of oval form with two tiers with solid undulating galleries, the slender square section legs surmounted by urn finials, decorated with flame veneers centred on a sunburst. English c1900, One H 31 ½ in W 25 ¾ in D 17 ½ in. Other H 30 ½ W 25 ½ d 17 ½ in
George IV tilt-top specimen table
A George IV tilt-top specimen table, the circular top inlaid with a central square of flame mahogany within a yew-wood frame all surrounded by a patchwork of exotic timbers, the turned mahogany baluster support raised on a square base and four splayed cabriole legs with brass lion’s paw feet and the original castors, English, c 1825.
Regency plum-pudding mahogany library centre table and bookcase
An unusual Regency plum-pudding mahogany library centre table and bookcase, the circular top with four dummy frieze drawers with ring handles set above four shallow, concave bookcases enclosed behind the original trellis of brass wire, the uprights with a carved reeded lozenge, decorated with ebony stringing and black lion’s masks and paw feet, English, c1810. Literature: Margaret Jourdain, Regency Furniture 1795-1830, London 1965 edition, p76, fig.173.
A mid Victorian gesso and Amboyna console table
A mid Victorian wood and gilt console table, the shaped top with an amboyna field within wide walnut cross-banding inlaid with boxwood lion’s masks, raised upon a flamboyant gilt gesso base in the rococo taste with C-scrolls, acanthus leaves, flowerheads and foliate cabriole legs and stretchers, all on a shaped walnut plinth. English, c1860.
A rare pair of Victorian 8 inch table globes by Newton
A rare pair of Victorian 8 inch table globes by Newton, each set on a turned rosewood tripod base, the terrestrial with papers updated to 1844, the celestial to 1843. English, c1840.
17th century oak English table cabinet gilded silver
This oak cabinet is of rectangular form surmounted by a triangular pediment enclosing a small central drawer, above two doors which open to reveal four short and six longer drawers arranged around a central cupboard. The whole, as described by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is painted black and ‘mordant gilded, silvered and varnished’ with landscapes and figures within wide borders profusely painted with scrolling vegetation. The principal panels on the doors, top and sides, show Dutch figures and animals of the hunt in landscapes set before fortified towns with mountainous landscapes behind, all beneath a sky of stylized cloud scrolls, the interior of the drawers painted red. Provenance: A private collection Exhibitions: Masterpiece London 2018 Literature: Victor Chinnery, ‘Oak Furniture: The British Tradition’. Fig. 2.238 & 2.238a Footnote: Directly related cabinets which have been used to authenticate and date the present cabinet are in the following collections: Victoria &Albert Museum, London W.9-1936, English circa1620 (Fig.3) Leeds Museums & Galleries; Temple Newsam, no.1971.00 34 dated c.1620 (Fig.4) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, V&A, W.37-1927 c1620 (Fig 2) Private Collection, shown at the Stuart Legacy Exhibition, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama USA, Private Collection ex John Fardon Collection, sold Christies South Kensington 06/07/1994, lot 337 and again CSK 01/05/1996, lot 300. Ballot Box dated 1619 made for the East India Company, now in the collection of The Worshipful Company of Saddlers (Fig.5) Articles in the Burlington Magazine in 1934 and 1936 show there was some debate regarding the origin of these cabinets. Firstly Vilhelm Slomann averred that pieces related to the ballot box dated 1619, made for the East India Company now in the collection of The Worshipful Company of Saddlers (fig.5), were of Indian manufacture; only to be refuted by Ralph Edwards who claimed they were made in London. Likewise Peter Thornton in 1972 writes that these table cabinets ‘constitute the earliest recorded manifestation of Chinoiserie taste in this country’. Indeed, both the Victorian and Albert Museum, London and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, catalogue their cabinets as English. The present cabinet has many obvious similarities to the rest of the group but the decoration of the figural panels definitely depicts Dutch figures and European landscapes and there is some attempt at perspective; whereas the others also show turbaned Orientals, dragons and stylised landscapes reminiscent of Chinoiserie decorative schemes. In ‘Oak Furniture , The British Tradition’, Victor Chinnery gives an Anglo-Dutch attribution under the illustration of this cabinet, but in the text on p120 he suggests that if a Dutchman did make this piece he could have done so in this country. As explained by Slomann, the arabesque borders undoubtedly draw inspiration from Indian and Islamic sources. The most intriguing image is that of a lady and gentleman in the centre of the pediment – could they have commissioned the cabinet? Bibliography: Burlington Magazine No 65 1934, (Vilhelm Slomann) ‘The Indian Period of European Furniture’, p.113-4. Burlington Magazine No 68 May 1936 (R. Edwards) ‘The Master of the Saddler’s Ballot Box’, p. 232-5. Burlington Magazine No 31 1917 (H. Clifford-Smith),pp.234-40. Cains, Carol and Matthew Martin , ‘A Cabinet of Curiosity: An Early English Japanned Cabinet in The Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria’ website. ‘Chinese Whispers, Chinoiserie in Britain’ Exhibition Catalogue, C2 Chinnery, Victor, ‘Oak Furniture: The British Tradition’, Fig. 2.238 & 2.238a Edwards, Ralph, ‘Dictionary of English Furniture’. p 162, figure 1. Gilbert, Christopher, ‘Furniture at Temple Newsam House & Lotherton Hall’. Leeds, 1978, Vol 1 p.47 no. 35 History of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers 2nd Volume, Treasures & Plate Huth, Hans, ‘Lacquer of the West’, pl. 39, p.11 Irwin, J ‘Art & the East India Trade’, V& A 1970. Mercer, Eric ‘The Social History of the Decorative Arts – Furniture 700-1700’, figs. 175-6. Thornton, Peter, ‘English Cabinets,’ Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1972. Pl 1 & 2
Early Victorian amboyna centre table by Taprell and Holland & Sons
A fine early Victorian amboyna centre table by Taprell and Holland & Sons, the circular top set on a gadrooned baluster support terminating in petals with an ebony collar, all on a circular base with three bun feet, decorated with ebony inlays comprising a chain design within slender borders, bead and reel edging, further gadrooning and rosettes. English, c1840. Footnote: Stephen Taprell set up as a cabinet maker, upholsterer, chair and sofa manufacturer in 1803. In 1835 his partner, William Holland, a relative of the famous Regency architect Henry Holland, took over and traded until 1843 as Taprell, Holland and Sons. After 1846, as Holland and Sons, the company became one of the greatest furnishing firms of the Victorian period. Queen Victoria commissioned them to supply Osborne House, Windsor Castle, Balmoral and also the new Houses of Parliament. Granted the Royal Warrant in 1846, they exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and were represented at all the major exhibitions thereafter.
A late Regency mahogany console table
A late Regency mahogany console table, attributed to Gillows of Lancaster and London, of rectangular form with two bold acanthus-carved scroll supports terminating in powerful lion’s paw feet to the front and panelled pilasters to the back, with the original openwork ormolu gallery. English, circa 1820.
French marble table lamps
A pair of French marble table lamps, each in the form of a footed vase applied with tall, arched ormolu handles and a band of lanceolate leaves and seed heads around the base, (adapted from oil lamps for electricity, shades not included.) French, c1890.
Kingwood marquetry bedside/lamp tables
An attractive pair of free-standing kingwood marquetry bedside/lamp tables, each with a shaped top above a leathered slide and two drawers, with a further drawer opening to the side, all set upon slender cabriole legs and decorated with floral marquetry and ormolu mounts, French, circa 1910.
A fine quality Anglo Indian hardwood centre table
A fine quality Anglo Indian hardwood (probably padouk) centre table, of circular form, the top with an openwork scrolling frieze set upon a tripod base comprising three mythological lion-type creatures, with gaping mouths and claw feet on scrolling supports, surrounding a central baluster. Circa 1840
A mid-Victorian faded satinwood centre table
A mid-Victorian faded satinwood centre table, attributed to Holland and Sons, the circular top set on a baluster support with three scroll-ended cabriole legs, original castors. English, c1860 Literature: Holland and Sons of London were first recorded in 1815 as Taprell and Holland. Under the management of William Holland, a relative of the famous Regency architect Henry Holland, they became cabinetmakers and upholsterers to Queen Victoria; their first commission being Osborne House in 1845. Granted the Royal Warrant in 1846, the company went on to supply Windsor Castle, Balmoral and also the new Houses of Parliament. In 1851 they exhibited at the Great Exhibition and were represented at all the major exhibitions thereafter.
Late Victorian oval burr elm lamp table
A good quality late Victorian oval burr elm lamp table in French taste, the oval top above a single frieze drawer raised on four tapering leg, applied with brass mounts, beading and acanthus leaf sabots, English, c1890.
Regency end support mahogany sofa table
A Regency end support mahogany sofa table, the rectangular shaped top with two hinged flaps above two frieze drawers on one side and dummy drawers on the other, raised on panelled end supports with scrolls above and below the horizontal foot and a turned stretcher. Stamped ‘Gillow of Lancaster’. English, c1815. H 27 ½ W closed 40 ½ open 70 ½ D 27
A pair of late Victorian demi lune mahogany console tables
A pair of late Victorian demi lune mahogany console tables, attributed to Edwards and Roberts, each of hemispherical form with a single disguised frieze drawer set upon four tapering square-section legs joined by a solid cusped stretcher, inlaid with boxwood decoration of a classical urn, beribboned swags and pendant bellflowers. English, c1890. Edwards & Roberts was founded in 1845, and had premises at 21 Wardour Street London. By 1892 they occupied more than a dozen buildings in Wardour Street, where they continued to trade until the end of the century. They became one of the leading London cabinet makers and retailers working in a variety of styles, both modern and revivalist. Their business also involved retailing, adapting and restoring the finest antique furniture and there are many examples of their earlier furniture with later embellishments bearing their stamp. Edwards & Roberts specialized in marquetry, inlay and ormolu.
A George IV Rosewood centre table in the manner of Gillows
A GEORGE IV ROSEWOOD CENTRE TABLE, IN THE MANNER OF GILLOWS with a circular tilt top, turned faceted carved stem and a concave sided trefoil platform raised on scroll carved claw feet
A late George III brass bound mahogany table wine cooler
A late George III brass bound mahogany table wine cooler with original tin liner. Circa 1800
Late Victorian parcel gilt and painted Adam style console table
Late Victorian parcel gilt and painted Adam style console table, the stepped hemispherical satinwood top with the original painted decoration of a central roundel showing a young satyr dancing with castanets before Bacchante and a putto, all within green classical borders and delicate floral scrolls, set on a white and gilt base comprising four square section tapering legs terminating in hairy goat’s hoof feet joined by a bow shaped stretcher surmounted by an urn with ram’s head handles, decorated with musical trophies and laurel garlands, English, circa 1890.
A late Regency Gonçalo alves specimen marble top table by Gillows
A superb late Regency Gonçalo alves specimen marble top table by Gillows, of rectangular form, the top set with squares of polychrome marbles within a black border, raised on end supports carved as stylized acanthus leaf scrolls joined by a turned stretcher, English, c1820.
Napoleon III kingwood oval display table
A fine Napoleon III kingwood oval display table, the glazed upper section with a hinged top, set upon four squared section legs joined by a shelf enclosed within openwork ormolu grilles, all on spinning top feet, decorated with radiating veneers, cross banding and ormolu mounts. French, c1870.
Oval 19th century colonial padouk hardwood campaign table
An extremely Rare oval 19th century colonial hardwood campaign table. The large oval top is detachable from the folding gun barrelled turned legs. Circa 1860
A George II mahogany tripod table
A George II mahogany tripod table of lovely rich colour the circular tilt top constructed in one piece and set on a bird cage gun barrel support with three cabriole legs. English, c1750.
A Ceylonese satinwood and ebony Pembroke table
A Ceylonese satinwood and ebony Pembroke table, the rectangular top with two hinged flaps above a central drawer, set on a turned and carved central support on a square base with four splayed feet, decorated with ebony edging and handles. Ceylonese, 1820. H 29 3/4 W closed 17 1/2 Open 29 ½ in
Exotic pair of antique camel tables
Each of these teak tables is in the form of a standing camel with an octagonal tray on its back. The body is carved with naturalistic hair. Anglo Indian, circa 1890.
William IV mahogany end support library table
A William IV mahogany end support library table, the leather-inset top with rounded ends above two frieze drawers and two dummy cock-beaded drawers, raised upon twin C-scroll legs on bold lions paw feet and joined by a turned stretcher, English, c1835
Late Victorian kingwood 3-tier side table
An unusual late Victorian kingwood 3-tier side table in the French taste, of rectangular form with striking quarter veneers creating a diamond effect on each shelf, with chamfered legs and applied ormolu mounts, paper label 'Dreyfous, 99 Mount St. London.' English c 1890.
Oak table by Mouseman of Kilburn
An oak table by Mouseman of Kilburn, of rectangular form in the Arts and Craft style, with the trademark mouse running up one leg. Footnote: Robert (Mouseman) Thompson (7 May 1876 - 8 December 1955) was part of the 1920s revival of craftsmanship inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement led by William Morris, John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle. The company, continued by his son, is now known as 'Robert Thompson's Craftsmen Ltd - The Mouseman of Kilburn.'
A Victorian kingwood bird’s eye maple and boxwood writing table
An unusual and attractive early Victorian kingwood, bird’s eye maple and boxwood writing table, the shaped rectangular top with a brass edge above a frieze disguising an end drawer and central writing slide, decorated in marquetry of exotic and stained woods with a central trophy of musical instruments, unusual plant specimens, a globe, mathematical/navigational aids and a different globe in each corner, the ormolu mounts incorporating bulrushes, English, c1840.
Fine late regency rosewood freestanding library table in the manner of Gillow.
Fine late regency rosewood end support freestanding library table in the manner of Gillow. with two mahogany lined draws to the front and dummy draws to the reverse. The whole supported on panelled end supports with solid rosewood scroll decoration and finely carver paw feet. The top with a new black gilt embossed leather insert.
George III writing table
An early George III mahogany four drawer writing table, The rectangular leather inset top set on four square-section legs with open works spandrels, with two drawers on each side.
Large table made from a late 18th Century ship’s steering wheel
A very large table made from a late 18th Century ship’s steering wheel. from HMS Medusa, set on a brass bound teak binnacle. Modern glass top. H 30 ¼”, Diam 77” Footnote: HMS Medusa was a Royal Naval 50 gun battleship launched in 1785 in Plymouth, UK. She served in Lord Bridport’s Fleet, patrolling the coast of France until 1797 when she brought the injured back to Spithead. Wrecked off the coast of Portugal in 1798.
Antique Mid Victorian Occasional Table
Antique Mid Victorian occasional table, the circular top inlaid with an amboyna, boxwood and stained wood floral bouquet within a reserved lacework border all on an ebony ground, supported on a spiral support and tripod feet. With a makers label 'John C J Atkins, Argyll Place Regent St, London,'. English c1850
Cuban mahogany two-tier side table
Early Victorian Cuban mahogany two-tier side table, of rectangular form with turned baluster supports at each corner carved with slender acanthus leaves, original brass castors.
Antique mahogany occasional table
George IV cross-banded mahogany occasional table, the rectangular tilt-top set upon a turned baluster stem with four cabriole legs.
Writing Table attributed to Gillow
partners’ table has a shaped rectangular leather inset top above four disguised frieze drawers. It is raised on turned, tapering and reeded legs with brass castors. The cabinet-making firm of Gillows was founded in 1728 by Robert Gillow (1704-1772), who was a cabinet maker, architect, house-carpenter, funeral director and West Indies merchant. He laid the foundations for a successful firm which lasted over two hundred and fifty years, both in London and the provinces and rapidly rose to prominence among English furniture makers. Fortunately their output is well documented, largely thanks to pieces stamped ‘GILLOWS LANCASTER’, a practice which began about 1790, and the survival of a high proportion of the Gillows Archives, including estimate sketch books, letter books, and other business ledgers from circa 1730-1930. The Gillow brothers and nephews also expanded their overseas trade during the second half of the eighteenth century. Between them they ran both the London and Lancaster shops, providing a comprehensive service including supplying and fitting carpets, curtains and wallpapers in addition to making all sorts of furniture. The name Gillows has become synonymous with quality workmanship and stylish designs. Items from this family have retained their cachet for more nearly 300 years.
Pair of Regency rosewood side tables
A pair of Regency rosewood side tables, each with a single disguised frieze drawer.
A pair of Majorcan Carlos IV en suite console tables
The tables have white marble tops above carved and painted friezes raised on slender tapering legs, painted in cream, blue and grey with gilding. Footnote: The cresting is an allegorical reference to the prosperity of the island of Mallorca; the pearls show the abundance of the seas; the trident is the symbol of Neptune; the staff represents the Rule of Justice; the caduceus is for commercial dominance and the column is for financial strength and stability.
A Regency end support sofa table
A Regency plum pudding mahogany end support sofa table, the D-end top with rosewood cross banding and ebony and boxwood stringing, with original handles and castors.
Centre table by Maxie Lane
An unusual and attractive centre table by Maxie Lane, carved from solid elm with an irregular shaped top supported by four bowed legs and a circular cruciform stretcher.
An outstanding Meiji period gold lacquer and Shibayama table screen
An outstanding Meiji period gold lacquer and Shibayama table screen, showing a peasant family running for shelter in driving rain on one panel and the other with their destination; a welcoming entranceway with two seated figures and a samurai sheltering under a flowering cherry tree.
A pair of Napoleon III bird’s eye maple beside tables by Francois Linke
A pair of charming Napoleon III bird’s eye maple beside tables by Francois Linke, of oval form with marble tops and ormolu mounts, one with three small drawers, the other with a drawer and two kidney-shaped shelves.
A pair of attractive Anglo Indian table book stands
A pair of attractive Anglo Indian table book stands in ebony and porcupine quill with bone finials and inlaid roundels.
Danish vintage coffee table
Danish vintage coffee table by Glostrup
A fine late Regency centre table attributed to Gillows
A fine late Regency centre table attributed to Gillows, the top veneered in rosewood flame veneers on Cuban mahogany with bobbin reel edges, supported on a tripod base with strongly carved scroll feet. The cabinet-making firm of Gillows was founded in 1728 by Robert Gillow (1704-1772), who was a cabinet maker, architect, house-carpenter, funeral director and West Indies merchant. He laid the foundations for a successful firm which lasted over two hundred and fifty years, both in London and the provinces and rapidly rose to prominence among English furniture makers. Fortunately their output is well documented, largely thanks to pieces stamped ‘GILLOWS LANCASTER’, a practice which began about 1790, and the survival of a high proportion of the Gillows Archives, including estimate sketch books, letter books, and other business ledgers from circa 1730-1930. The Gillow brothers and nephews also expanded their overseas trade during the second half of the eighteenth century. Between them they ran both the London and Lancaster shops, providing a comprehensive service including supplying and fitting carpets, curtains and wallpapers in addition to making all sorts of furniture. The name Gillows has become synonymous with quality workmanship and stylish designs. Items from this family have retained their cachet for more nearly 300 years.
A Gillow satinwood centre table
A superb oval shaped satinwood and kingwood centre table, with cotton-reel carved edge, on a leaf-carved baluster stem and cabriole legs carved with foliage and cabochons. Provenance: The cabinet-making firm of Gillows was founded in 1728 by Robert Gillow (1704-1772), who was a cabinet maker, architect, house-carpenter, funeral director and West Indies merchant. He laid the foundations for a successful firm which lasted over two hundred and fifty years, both in London and the provinces and rapidly rose to prominence among English furniture makers. Fortunately their output is well documented, largely thanks to pieces stamped ‘GILLOWS LANCASTER’, a practice which began about 1790, and the survival of a high proportion of the Gillows Archives, including estimate sketch books, letter books, and other business ledgers from circa 1730-1930. The Gillow brothers and nephews also expanded their overseas trade during the second half of the eighteenth century. Between them they ran both the London and Lancaster shops, providing a comprehensive service including supplying and fitting carpets, curtains and wallpapers in addition to making all sorts of furniture. The name Gillows has become synonymous with quality workmanship and stylish designs. Items from this family have retained their cachet for more nearly 300 years. Signed/Inscribed: Stamped Gillows Read our Gillows Blog here – The Furniture of Gillows and their design records 
An attractive Victorian rosewood silver table from the 1840s Chinese Chippendale revival, attributed to Gillows
An attractive Victorian rosewood silver table from the 1840s Chinese Chippendale revival, attributed to Gillows, the shaped rectangular top supported on cluster column legs with open and closed fretwork spandrels.
Pair mid-century brass side tables.
Pair of mid-century two tier brass side tables with glass shelves, each leg finely cast with reeds terminating in rounded toes.
The Queen’s Jubilee Billiard table and Matching Cue Cupboard
This unique black walnut billiard table by Orme and Sons Ltd is a masterpiece that was commissioned for Queen Victoria's Jubilee Exhibition in Manchester in 1887. Every surface is beautifully carved with references to the industrial growth and cultural developments encompassed by the fifty years of her reign, which coincided with the British Empire's 'Golden Age'. Provenance: Purchased by Hamar Bass from the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition 1887 for £ 1,000 Guineas then re-sold on his demise at the contents sale by Messrs Knight Frank and Rutley on June 23, 1913 of Byrkley Lodge, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire
A matched pair of English Kingwood display tables in the French taste
A matched pair of English Kingwood display tables in the French taste, each of rectangular form with slender tapering legs and glazed top, decorated with quarter veneers, tulipwood cross banding and superb quality ormolu mounts.
A fine inlaid walnut and kingwood marquetry centre table attributed to Edward Holmes Baldock
An fine inlaid walnut and kingwood marquetry centre table attributed to Edward Holmes Baldock, the tilt top with a border of strapwork and floral swags, the triform base embellished with ormolu mounts. Provenance: Sale was in 1843 on Baldock, Edward Holmes (1777-1845). Baldock was one of the first London antique dealers, in the modern sense of the word. He principally dealt in 18th century French furniture and Chinese Export porcelain, and commissioned furniture to compliment his inventory. This furniture has strong French design influences, but retains subtle English details (the floral marquetry often depicts English wildflowers). His clients included the Duke of Buccleuch and George IV. His dispersal his retirement.
Pair mid-century brass side tables.
Pair of mid-century two tier brass side tables with glass shelves, each leg finely cast with reeds terminating in rounded toes.
Collectors cabinet, Victorian 6 drawer table top
A late Victorian 6 drawer table top collectors cabinet
A mid Victorian coromandel bow ended writing table
A mid Victorian coromandel and ormolu mounted bow ended writing table raised upon fluted legs. Replaced leather.
A pair of late George III 12′ library table globes by J and W Cary
A pair of late George III 12' library table globes by J and W Cary , the Strand London. Each on a classical mahogany stand with replaced compasses. The celestial dated: Jan 11 1800, the terrestrial dated: 1808
A late 20th century ash, burr oak banded, rosewood and abalone inlaid hall/centre table
A late 20th century ash, burr oak banded, rosewood and abalone inlaid hall/centre table, circa 1985. The detachable top with a canted top edge and burr oak banded border intermittently inlaid with a variety of slender geometric abalone segments, above a shaped fret-carved frieze, on two end supports comprising six chamferred square section columns terminating in two twin stile supports, with two chamferred square section stretcher.
A stunning marble top specimen centre table.
A stunning 19th century marble top specimen centre table.
A Regency mahogany and ebony strung D shaped serving table
A REGENCY MAHOGANY AND EBONY STRUNG D SHAPED SERVING TABLE with brass lion's masks on faceted reeded tapering legs. CIRCA 1820
A pair of French kingwood centre tables in Louis XV style
A pair of French kingwood centre tables in Louis XV style, each with a shaped verde antico marble top and with ormolu mounts, on cabriole legs united by an 'X' stretcher with a flaming finial
A Japanese black lacquer side table, with engraved brass mounts and gilt decorated trailing foliage and flowers
A Japanese black lacquer side table, with engraved brass mounts and gilt decorated trailing foliage and flowers, the top with curved ends above three tiers, two with cupboards with hinged doors, the inside of the doors decorated with bamboo on a speckled ground on bracket feet.
A rare pair of 6½ inch table globes by Bale and Woodward
A rare pair of 6½ inch table globes by Bale and Woodward supported on mahogany turned columns onto triform platform bases with bun feet, the terrestrial globe inscribed ‘A new terrestrial Globe, published by G.Woodward, London 1845.’ The celestial ‘Bale & Woodward new celestial globe.’ Literature: Information is very scant about Bale and Woodward.., from 1851-1855 Woodward is recorded as occupying premises at 5 Charles St, Hatton Garden, London. He appears to have made barometers, thermometers, and terrestrial globes of 3,5 and 7 inch diameter in addition to the size we have here which is a little over 6'. Even less is known about Bale, who again, worked in London in the middle of the 19th century. He would appear to have been the provider, to Woodward, of celestial gores who's sizes correspond to his globes which would indicate at least an association if not a partnership. Both men were also associated with the firm of Samolavico, a provider of the usual range of meteorological instruments, as their name appears in the margin of extant sheets of printed and unmounted gores, 3 inch globes which were used extensively for masonic globes, usually mounted on tall gilt classical columns.
A nest of four Sheraton tables in satinwood and partridge wood.
A nest of four Sheraton tables in satinwood and partridge wood attributed to Gillow. Provenance: A similar set are shown in Susan Stewart's book 'Gillows of Lancaster Vol 1 pg 336'.
A Victorian mahogany library table circa 1880, by Wright and Mansfield
A Victorian mahogany library table circa 1880, by Wright and Mansfield in George III manner, the rectangular red tooled leather inset top of arc-en arbelette form, above three drawers, with dummies to the reverse, all with blind fret carving, on cabriole legs with ball and claw feet, Stamped Wright and Mansfield/ 104 NEW BOND ST.
A pair of early 20th century walnut and mother of pearl inlaid Damascan side tables
A pair of early 20th century walnut and mother of pearl inlaid Damascan side tables
A nest of regency rosewood tables attributed to Gillows.
A good nest of regency rosewood tables. The well figured tops laid on mahogany. Attributed to Gillows.
A pair of Ceylonese Sutherland Tables
These matched Colonial tables are unusual in their construction. They are of typical oval form with carved and turned ebony gate legs and fall flaps on either side. The decoration consists of a central ebony panel flanked by radiating segments of solid, rather than inlaid, woods including ebony, rosewood, calamander, jackwood, tamarind, coconut and satinwood, all within an acanthus carved border. Both stamped Don Andris Cabinetmaker Colombo. Ceylon (Sri Lanka), circa 1860.
An antique Victorian revolving drum table
A mahogany drum table with four real and four dummy frieze drawers set upon a wide barley twist column on stylized dolphin feet.
An antique centre table attributed to Edward Holmes Baldock
A field maple and amboyna centre table attributed to Edward Holmes Baldock. This oval tilt top is veneered in field maple with a central design of alternating scrolls in amboyne. The solid triform base and three scroll feet have kingwood crossbanding. Literature: Edward Holmes Baldock (1777-1845)was one of the first London antique dealers, in the modern sense of the word. He principally dealt in 18th century French furniture and Chinese Export porcelain, and commissioned furniture to compliment his inventory. This furniture has strong French design influences, but retains subtle English details (the floral marquetry often depicts English wildflowers). His clients included the Duke of Buccleuch and George IVth. His dispersal sale was in 1843 on his retirement. The solid triform base with overall veneers in exotic woods is a typical feature of his pieces.
An antique Victorian mirror-backed console table attributed to Holland and Sons
An unusual mid Victorian mirror-backed console table attributed to Holland and Sons, The shaped walnut and amboyna top has a corresponding shelf and base below, with slender turned and fluted baluster supports. The decoration comprises banding and cross banding with ormolu mounts and two panels of classical floral motifs in inlaid woods.
An antique exhibition quality figured rosewood centre table
The circular tilt top of this superb table in raised upon a turned and carved baluster support on a triform base with three shaped bosses. The repertoire of classical decorative motifs includes Vitruvian scrolls, acanthus leaves, hearts, beading and patera. Literature: Charles Hindley & Sons, rug and floor cloth manufacturers (Furniture History Society, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, pp. 433 & 606) took over the firm of Miles & Edwards, cabinetmakers, of 134 Oxford Street in 1844. Thereafter, they established trade at the Oxford Street premises where their business as high quality cabinet makers flourished, earning them a Royal Appointment, and a part in the Great Exhibition. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Signed/Inscribed: C Hindley & Sons 134 Oxford Street London 15305
An antique Victorian amboyne side table.
This oval table has ebony edging and a freize drawer. The slender cabriole legs are joined by a solid rectangular stretcher attached with double scroll brackets and decorative bosses.
antique Victorian tables
This pair of mahogany and satinwood demi-lune tables have freize drawers and square tapering legs joined with a solid stretcher. The inlaid decoration comprises classical urns and floral swags in a variety of contrasting woods with penwork detailsand kingwood banding. Literature: The firm Edwards & Roberts was founded 1845, and had premises at 21 Wardour Street London. By 1892 they occupied more than a dozen buildings in Wardour Street, where they continued to trade until the end of the century. They became one of the leading London cabinet makers and retailers working in a variety of styles, both modern and revivalist. Their business also involved retailing, adapting and restoring the finest antique furniture and there are many examples of their earlier furniture with later embellishments bearing their stamp. Edwards & Roberts specialized in marquetry, inlay and ormolu.
Antique side table
A mid 19th century Victorian walnut an inlaid side table, the frieze with an armorial to one long side, the feet with concealed castors
The Queen’s Jubilee Billiard table and Matching Cue Cupboard
This unique black walnut billiard table by Orme and Sons Ltd is a masterpiece that was commissioned for Queen Victoria's Jubilee Exhibition in Manchester in 1887. Every surface is beautifully carved with references to the industrial growth and cultural developments encompassed by the fifty years of her reign, which coincided with the British Empire's 'Golden Age'. Provenance: Purchased by Hamar Bass from the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition 1887 for £ 1,000 Guineas then re-sold on his demise at the contents sale by Messrs Knight Frank and Rutley on June 23, 1913 of Byrkley Lodge, Burton on Trent, Staffordshire
A pair of Damascan marquetry side tables
An ornate pair of octagonal Damascan marquetry side tables. Each profusely decorated in mother-of-pearl and various woods with a central roundel enclosing an Arabic inscription.
A pair of antique mahogany French side tables
A pair of mahogany French side tables with disguised drawers in the frieze. Each has a marble top, turned legs and carved decoration.
Antique Regency kingwood centre table
An unusual Regency kingwood centre table with a triform based raised on ebonized gadrooned feet. Provenance: The use of Kingwood and other exotic timbers such as Satinwood, tulip wood and Palm were used widely in the Regency period to show there wealth. These timbers were very exspencive and highly prized. Kingwood was used as a cross banding and was rarely used to cover a larger surface, the reason for this was that it not a large tree and therefore could not offer large balks of timber such as Mahohany which were cut into large boards of timber.
Burr walnut writing table
A fine Victorian burr walnut two drawer writing table with ormolu mounts and an inset green leather top.
A shaped Dutch marquetry card table
A good quality shaped Dutch marquetry card table profusely inlaid in boxwood with floral designs, the interior with inlaid p laying cards in the wells.
A Victorian mahogany low table
A Victorian mahogany low table in the manner of Gillows, the shaped top supported on triple cluster columns.
A fine quality Victorian rosewood card table
A fine quality Victorian rosewood card table attributed to Edwards and Roberts with musical trophies inlaid in coloured woods and bone.
An Antique French side table
An antique French single drawer side table decorated throughout with cube trellis marquetry.
Victorian side table
A Victorian walnut and king wood side table in the French taste, with ormolu mounts and a satinwood interior.
Mahogany work table
A late George III mahogany work table with a shell inlaid top.
Satinwood oval side table
A late Victorian satinwood oval side table with painted decoration comprising a bouquet of flowers.
An extremely rare museum quality English table cabinet, c1720
This oak cabinet is of rectangular form surmounted by a triangular pediment enclosing a small central drawer, above two doors which open to reveal four short and six longer drawers arranged around a central cupboard.  The whole, as described by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is painted black and ‘mordant gilded, silvered and varnished’ with landscapes and figures within wide borders profusely painted with scrolling vegetation.  The principal panels on the doors, top and sides, show Dutch figures and animals of the hunt in landscapes set before fortified towns with mountainous landscapes behind, all beneath a sky of stylized cloud scrolls, the interior of the drawers painted red.   Footnote:  Directly related cabinets which have been used to authenticate and date the present cabinet are in the following collections:  Victoria &Albert Museum, London  W.9-1936, English circa1620 (Fig.3) Leeds Museums & Galleries; Temple Newsam, no.1971.00 34 dated c.1620 (Fig.4) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, V&A, W.37-1927  c1620 (Fig 2)  Private Collection, shown at the Stuart Legacy Exhibition, Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama USA,   
Regency rosewood chess table
the rectangular top with a chess board of white and rose/yellow sienna marble, within grey borders and a brass edge, the frieze with a central drawer and a slide on either end, the cabriole legs carved with acanthus leaves and terminating in scroll feet. English, c 1820.
A most attractive pair of kingwood and tulipwood oval side tables by Charles Bernel
each with an original marble top and ormolu gallery, with a frieze drawer and single shelf, raised on square tapering legs. Signed on a maker 's label Charles Bernel, meubles d'Art, 4 Pge St Pierre Amelot - PARIS. Provenance: . Charles Bernel succeeded the ebeniste L'Hoste at the end of the 19th century. L'Hoste was a sculptor and cabinetmaker who established his business at 48, rue Amelot, Paris in 1846, was awarded medals for his wares at the Paris Expositions Universelles in 1855, 1867, 1889. The business changed names to L'HOSTE FRERES in the 1870s, and then Bernel succeeded L'Hoste at the end of the 19th century.
A 19th century walnut, rosewood, ebony and boxwood parquetry tilt-top centre table
The burr walnut cross banded top with a geometric boxwood interior surrounding a specimen wood roundel, with a rosewood frieze, on a tri-form scrolling base.
A late 19th century Swiss ‘Black Forest’ carved walnut console table
in the form of an eagle on a rocky outcrop, it's head and outstretched wings supporting a shaped replacement marble top.
A good quality antique late Victorian walnut silver table
With a tray top on cabriole legs, decorated throughout with quarter veneers and feather banding. Stamped.
A Pair of Amboyna and Walnut Occasional Tables
Each with a circular top set upon a spiral twist column raised on scroll-carved tripod feet, the decoration to the top comprising radiating amboyna panels centred on a floral porcelain plaque by Copeland
A William IV Mahogany Partners Writing Table
With a rectangular leather-inset top above two frieze drawers and raised on four turned and lappet carved legs
An antique metamorphic rosewood table
The removable rectangular top opening to reveal a jardinière tray within. The turned and reeded legs joined by X-framed stretchers centred on circular bosses.
A Fine Sand Painting by Benjamin Zobel Showing a Deer Being Attacked by a Boa Constrictor
A Fine Sand Painting by Benjamin Zobel Showing a Deer Being Attacked by a Boa Constrictor. The Source Taken From a Zoological Specimen in William Bullock's Museum at 22 Piccadilly London The subject of this exceedingly fine sand painting is very interesting indeed. Zobel is probably most famous today for his sand pictures depicting pastoral scenes and animals and the present image shows what appears to be a very typical English forest and the deer appears to be a fallow hind-a breed that, though native to Asia, had been and continues to be the most common breed of deer in Britain. Against this background, the presence of a Boa constrictor appears to be shocking and out of place and it is only through our discovery of the source for the piece that we have been able to begin to understand what Zobel was creating in his painting. A print in the British Museum (registration number 1860, 0728.93) shows a deer and Boa constrictor in precisely the same composition as in our painting but the forest background is very different. This is unsurprising as the title of the print is “The Boa Constrictor of Surinam...” Provenance Probably one of a pair of “highly finished marble dust paintings” sold by the auctioneer William Seaman of Great Yarmouth on the 8th of October 1823 in successive lots. Lot 62 in the sale was described as “Zobel's highly-finished marble dust painting-Boa constrictor. Framed and glazed” and was consigned by “Crow”. It sold for 1 Pound and 11 Shillings to “King”. The print was made by the prolific and important 19th century British printmaker Frederick Charles Lewis but the publication line makes no mention of the there having been a painting from which this piece was made. Instead, the inscription mentions that it is “from the one in Mr Bullock's Museum, 22 Piccadilly. Length 32 feet, circumference 2 feet 7 inches” and the inference is clear-there must have been a stuffed specimen of a snake, possibly also with a deer, on display in the museum. Zobel in turn must have interpreted the Lewis image for his clients by superimposing the snake and deer on to the type of English pastoral scene he was most used to producing, in turn creating a very interesting fusion of East and West. Lewis' print is one of a series of images of zoological subjects all taken from Bullock's museum but most of the other animals are depicted as single specimens-not in a tableau like this. The discovery of the print and the link to William Bullock's museum (see below) makes this not only a very fine work of art in its own right but also a means by which we may study one of the early museums of curiosities in England and the way that its specimens of natural history were arranged and images of those specimens disseminated. Lewis' print must presumably date to between 1809 and 1812 as Bullock's London museum was opened in 1809 and by 1812 was renamed the Egyptian Hall Museum as its focus turned increasingly in that direction. It is very likely that our Zobel painting dates from this same period. William Bullock and his Museum William Bullock initially trained as a goldsmith and silversmith, returning to metalwork later in his life when he created a range of interesting lighting. The designs for these lamps and other items seem to have come from his brother George Bullock the most and famous and important furniture designer of the early 19th century in England and whose clients included Sir Walter Scott and Napoleon-he was selected by the British government to furnish the Emperor's home on the island of St Helena. Having established his career in Liverpool, opening a museum there in 1795, William Bullock moved his operation to London in 1809 and the museum at 22 Piccadilly became a popular and important attraction in the city. The collections encompassed items as diverse as an important collection of Mexican artefacts, acquired by Bullock personally when he visited the country in 1822 and 1823, the aforementioned specimens of natural history and other curiosities which Bullock thought would appeal to his paying customers. It is probable that, lin common with his competitors such as Thomas Weeks who ran a museum in Tichbourne Street, Bullock also used the museum to retail items that would have been made to complement the exhibits on show. Bullock left England for a life in America where he bought an estate in the Cincinnati area in 1827 and then founded a town at Ludlow Kentucky in 1828 which he had designed by the celebrated architect J. B. Papworth. The failure of this enterprise led to his return to England in 1836 and he lived the rest of his life back in his country of birth. Benjamin Zobel (1762 – 1830)  Zobel was employed by the Prince Regent’s chef Louis Weltje, and became a `Table Decker’ at Windsor Castle. The custom of `Table Decking’ had been introduced into England by George III, where the table cloth at dinner was elaborately decorated with designs of coloured sands, marble dust, powdered glass or bread crumbs. Zobel became a skilled confectioner and was entrusted with the pictures made in coloured sugars that decorated the huge tarts served at banquets. The method he employed for making sugar patterns was identical to that which he used to make his sand pictures; that is the sugar, or sand, was shaken through a cut and pleated playing-card. 
A Regency sand picture
Showing three blond Percheron draught horses in harness outside a stable. Framed. Literature: Benjamin Zobel began his career in Memmingen in Bavaria (Swabia) in the family confectionery business. This apprenticeship became crucial to his career as a sand-painter. When he turned eighteen he moved to Amsterdam where he stayed for three years studying miniature painting before moving to London, where he was employed by Ecchard Brothers of Chelsea for whom he designed patterned wallpapers, linens and silks. Three years later Benjamin Zobel was employed by the Prince Regent's chef Louis Weltje, and became a `Table Decker' at Windsor Castle. The custom of `Table Decking' had been introduced into England by George III, where the table cloth at dinner was elaborately decorated with designs of coloured sands, marble dust, powdered glass or bread crumbs. Zobel became a skilled confectioner and was entrusted with the pictures made in coloured sugars that decorated the huge tarts served at banquets. The method he employed for making sugar patterns was identical to that which he used to make his sand pictures; that is the sugar, or sand, is shaken through a cut and pleated playing-card. Having converted the ephemeral process of sugar pattern to a permanent form of picture making, and believing that there was a future in it, he continued to make his sand pictures in his spare time. The ancient Japanese skill of bon-kei or `tray picture' was known, but Zobel has the reputation of being the inventor of the sand painting technique, and he was certainly the first to introduce the art to England. The subject matter of Zobel's sand-pictures range from battles and biblical scenes to landscapes and flower pieces, although animals, particularly horses, sheep and pigs held a particular fascination for him. His compositions were often taken from the paintings of his dear friend, George Morland. Zobel constructed his images with painstaking precision and was careful to describe every detail and texture, from the soft fur of a tiger to the rough, dusty ground of the farmyard. His works are extremely rare and not often signed in full. (Ref. Peter Nahum.)
A pair of Boulle Cabinets
A pair of Boulle Cabinets. This exquisite pair of Boulle side cabinets by Town and Emanuel are of rectangular form with stepped tops, shaped glazed doors and low plinths. Both are intricately worked in brass, red tortoiseshell and ebony boullework round the glazing and applied with foliate brass mouldings. They also bear the original paper makers labels reading: 103. Bond Street, Town and Emanuel, by appointment to Her Majesty, Old Paintings, Bronzes, Carvings, Oriental & other China, Jewellery & Curiosities; Manufacturers of Buhl Marquetrie, Resner & carved furniture, Tripods, Screens & c. of the Finest & most superb Designs of the Times of Louis 14th, splendid Cabinets & tables and inlaid with fine Sevre & Dresden China & c. Circa 1835. These cabinets carry the label of Town and Emanuel, who established their business at 103 Bond Street around 1830. During the period of their partnership, which lasted until 1839-40, they attracted commissions from some of the leading patrons of the period. In addition to Queen Adelaide, wife of William IV, the firm received orders from the 3rd Lord Braybrooke for furniture supplied for either Audley End or Lord Braybrookes London house, and from the Duke of Sutherland for Stafford House, St.James. A table by Town and Emanuel, bearing the identical label to that on these cabinets, was formerly in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch. These cabinets are typlical of their work, with lavish brass and tortoiseshell inlay inspired by the work of the great French Ebeniste Andre Charles Boulle.
A Sand picture of a recumbent tiger attributed to Benjamin Zobel
A very good example of a sand picture of a recumbent tiger attributed to Benjamin Zobel, coloured sand, white lead and gum Arabic on board, showing a tiger lying under the branches of an oak tree. Retained in its original frame.English, c1820. Footnote: Benjamin Zobel(1762-1830), began his career as a confectioner and became a ‘Table Decker’ for the Prince Regent at Windsor Castle where he not only created the pictures made in coloured sugars that decorated the huge tarts served at banquets, but also the elaborate designs of coloured sands, marble dust, powdered glass or bread crumbs on the table cloth. Once he had found a way to stick sand to a base board he shook the coloured sands through a cut and pleated playing-card thus creating a permanent example of sand art.
A Victorian Walnut and Feather banded kidney shaped kneehole desk
VICTORIAN WALNUT AND FEATHER BANDED KIDNEY SHAPED KNEEHOLE DESK with a replaced tooled leather inset top with a pierced brass gallery above three frieze drawers and eight pedestal drawers, with open shelves to the back, on a plinth.  

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 2½ inch reflecting telescope by John Cuthbert, London, circa 1852
A 2½ inch reflecting telescope by John Cuthbert, London, circa 1852. This Gregorian cylindrical brass telescope retains its original fitted mahogany box.  There is also a tripod stand with levelling screws which allows the telescope to be used on a table while focussing is achieved by moving the tiny mirror at the top of the tube.  Signed on the back plate John Cuthbert, London.  English, circa 1852. Provenance:  Richard Gomer Berry, 3rd Viscount Kemsley  Gregorian telescopes were reflecting telescopes which used the Gregorian optical configuration, first proposed by the Scottish mathematician James Gregory (1638-1675) in 1663, to produce upright images.  This is a convenience for a telescope that could be used for both terrestrial viewing as well as for looking at objects in the sky.  Apart from mirrored glass rather than polished metal mirrors the design and efficiency of these instruments altered little over 100 years. 
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

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.

  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
An Italian ‘Grand Tour’ marble top and French empire base
An Italian ‘Grand Tour’ marble top and French empire base, the circular top with a multi-petalled rosette comprising dozens of specimen marble segments centred on a malachite roundel, all on a white marble ground within a green border, the triform mahogany base with bold foliate scroll feet enclosing the original castors.  Italian and French, circa 1840. Footnote: it was common practice for wealthy travellers and young aristocrats to bring back pietra dura and micro mosaic panels from their ‘Grand Tours’ and have them set into tables by local cabinet makers.
A Jamaican marquetry tea caddy in Caribbean woods by Ralph Turnbull
This tea caddy is of rectangular form with a stepped hinged lid, set on bun feet and worked in Caribbean timbers and wooden nails with compass roses and a central starburst roundel on the front, the sides and lid with diamonds, triangles and four hearts, the velvet-lined interior fitted with two caddies with diamond-shaped lids and a cut glass mixing bowl (later), the underside with an indistinct maker’s label ‘From Ralph Turnbull’s Cabinet and Upholstery Manufactory, Kingston, Jamaica’ . Circa 1835. Ralph Turnbull (b.1788 – d.1865) is credited with the development of veneered pieces which are synonymous with colonial Jamaica. His output is easily recognisable, not only because he labelled his work, but also because his method of making and decorating furniture using the local woods of the Caribbean in dramatic geometric, often circular, patterns, was unique. It was very much admired at the time, by patrons and fellow cabinet makers alike, and is still sought after today. Unlike many of his competitors, it seems that Ralph Turnbull did not use slaves prior to emancipation, preferring to employ and train both black and white apprentices. When slaves were emancipated in the British Empire during the 1830s Turnbull applied to the Jamaican Parliament to fund sixty apprentices who had been former slaves. He was unusual in this, and it brought his work to the attention of the Marquis of Sligo, the Governor of Jamaica, who commissioned Turnbull to make a games table for his family seat in Ireland.
A pair of early Victorian 18 inch globes by Smith & Son
A pair of early Victorian 18 inch globes by Smith& Son, each set into a turned mahogany stand on three cabriole legs centred on compass roses, the terrestrial globe stating ‘Smith’s Terrestrial Globe containing the whole of the Latest Discoveries and Geographical Improvements also the tracks of the most celebrated Circumnavigators, London C. Smith & Son, 172 Strand, 1858’, the celestial globe undated, compasses replaced. English, c1840. Footnote: The Smith family of London globe makers, founded in 1799, produced a variety of floor and table models of globes throughout the 19th century. Charles Smith was joined in business by his son in 1845.
A silver and wood model of HMS Victory by H Wyllie
A silver and wood model of HMS Victory by H Wyllie, showing ‘Victory’ in her first commission 1780, constructed from ships' timbers by the artist Harold Wyllie (1880-1973), fully rigged with silver sails over an African oak and ebony  hull with detailed decks, blue and gilt gunwales, the upper gun ports open with guns, on a cast bronze waterline base set in a carved wooden plinth, inscribed with battle honours, and within a glass case. Together with two letters of provenance from Harold Wyllie, one on HMS Implacable headed notepaper, the other on Alloway Place, Ayr headed paper, dated 1937 and 1945 respectively.
Footnote: Harold Wyllie was the eldest son of the noted marine artist William Wyllie (1851-1931). Following his father's interests, Harold became a significant artist in his own right, concentrating on the developments of the sailing ship in Royal Naval history. He became an expert in marine archaeology and was appointed to restore HMS Victory to her Trafalgar condition. His letters state that he was given the timbers from HMS Victory by Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock (1862-1914) who had commissioned him to build another model of the Victory. This model was commissioned by a Mr Adam Wood of Skeldon, Ayrshire who intended it to be used as a table centrepiece and 'it was therefore kept as simple as possible to avoid damage when shown out of the case'. The model was also exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1912 'as a piece of sculpture before ship models were prohibited from their galleries'. Rear Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock KCVO CB SGM entered the Royal Navy in 1875, serving with distinction in the Mediterranean and was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1910. Stating that he would rather choose to die either hunting or engaged in battle. He was killed in the Battle of Coronel in the pursuit of Admiral Spee's fleet during the First World War. Skeldon House was built in 1760 by General Fullerton to an Adam design. Purchased by the Duke of Portland in 1867, the house was improved in 1908 by the architect James Miller for Adam Wood.The whole estate was sold in 1926, at which time the model of HMS Victory was acquired by the vendor's grandfather.*Note- References 'Royal Academy Exhibitors 1905-1970 Vol VI' page 339.
Breakfront open bookcase attributed to Gillows
A Regency rosewood breakfront open bookcase attributed to Gillows the shaped top with a brass gallery above a contre-partie boulle-work frieze and four fluted pilasters and three alcoves for five shelves, decorated with brass stringing, solid rosewood corbels and reeded feet, English, c1815. Footnote: For a library table inlaid with the premiere-partie of the same boulle design see Susan E Stuart, ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840,’ Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008 Vol.I pp291. Pls 308 and 309.
Papier maché box by Jennens & Bettridge with a silver medallion by Pinches
A fine mid-Victorian papier maché box by Jennens & Bettridge with a silver medallion by Pinches, of rectangular form with a hinged lid and gilt and painted decoration of palmettes, guilloche bands and a central laurel wreath enclosing a solid silver medallion depicting Athena with her helmet, a caduceus and a lamb, the box stamped ‘Jennens and Bettridge’ on the base, the medallion signed ‘Pinches’, the interior lined with the original fabric. English, c1850. Footnote: Jennens & Bettridge, run by Theodore Hyla Jennens and John Bettridge between 1816 and 1864, were famous for the range of papier- maché goods manufactured in their factory at 99 Constitution Hill, Birmingham. They also had premises at 6 Halkin Street West, Belgrave Square, London. The company produced a range of products, including writing boxes, trays, fans and larger pieces of furniture such as chairs, tables and sofas. They won a medal in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the Royal Warrant to supply Prince Albert and the Royal Family. John Pinches Medallists were founded around 1840 and continued to produce very high quality medals, through 4 generations, for 129 years.
Regency Rosewood bookstand
A fine quality Regency rosewood bookstand with ormolu carrying handles and gallery, attributed to Gillows. Provenance: Footnote: Susan Stuart in 'Gillows of Lancaster and London' Vol. I, p268, pl . 276, shows a Gonçalo alves writing table with a similar brass border. However this example is more elaborately decorated in boulle work on the legs and feet. The Bullock family had a long standing affiliation with the Gillows company from the 18th century and it is even possible that William Bullock worked as a journeyman for Gillows in Lancaster
A superb Italian micro mosaic of Roman ruins, by L Barberi
A superb Italian micro mosaic of Roman ruins, by L Barberi, Showing Victorian figures amongst the ruins of the arches and temples of Ancient Rome, within the original gilt frame. Provenance: Footnote: L Barberi was the son and pupil of Gioacchino Barberi (1783-1857) who has been acknowledged as one of the greatest mosaic masters since the discovery of his 1833 table top made for the Imperial Court of Nicholas I. His grandfather Paolo Emilia Barberi was a painter and his great-uncle was the famous Cavaliere Michelangelo Barberi. Their studio was at 99 piazza di Spagna near the Spanish Steps Exhibitions: Exhibition labels for 1884 Matlock Bath. 1877 Fine Art Exhibition, Derby.
Pair of Regency rosewood pole screens
A pair of Regency rosewood pole screens, with lyre shaped banners and later circular tables, now converted into lamps.