A large late Regency mahogany partner’s library table attributed to Gillows, the leather inset rectangular top above six frieze drawers, the frieze cross banded, raised on powerful double scroll legs carved with acanthus leaves, the gadrooned pad feet disguising the original brass castors. English, circa 1815.
Footnote: This table is typical of the bold 'neo-baroque', or rococo revival style, first promoted and thereafter rapidly popularised in England by the Gillows firm during the latter half of the 1820s. The design for this particular model appears in a drawing of a library layout (or room plan) executed by Gillows, possibly in conjunction with Ferguson and Co., upon behalf of J. Pultenay Esq. in circa 1829. It is illustrated in S.E. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, Vol. II, 2008, Woodbridge, pl. E4, pp.'s 348-349, and is housed at Lancaster City Museums, LM 55.20/33.
A mahogany library table attributed to Gillows, likewise dated circa 1830, which is virtually identical to the present example, was sold at Bonhams, 30 September 2008, The Knightsbridge Sale, lot 262
A Regency mahogany serving table attributed to Gillows, the shaped rectangular top with two small drawers and a central acanthus panel in the frieze, all raised on six turned and reeded legs. English, circa 1815.
A George IV rosewood tray top table, attributed to Gillows, the rectangular top with a bracketed, volute-carved gallery, the frieze with a disguised slide in the centre and drawers in the ends, all raised upon addorsed C-scroll end supports joined by a turned stretcher and terminating in hairy paw feet with hidden castors. English, circa 1826.
Footnote: For a similar table made from mahogany see Susan Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London 1730-1840, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008, Vol. II, p.382, pl GG36.
A William IV circular occasional tilt-top table, the figured rosewood top raised on a tapered column, the tripod base with three powerful lion’s paw feet. English, circa 1830.
An early Victorian black and gilt papier-mâché occasional table, the shaped top delicately painted with shells and seaweed within multiple gilt classical borders, all raised on a barley twist tripod support with further gilt decoration. English, circa 1850.
A pair of mahogany circular occasional tables in the Chippendale taste, the tops with gadrooned edges, each above three groups of openwork cluster column legs, descending past triform undertiers to block feet. English, circa 1920.
An Anglo Indian rosewood barley twist gateleg table, the top of typical oval form with two drop down flaps, supported on four barley twist legs with additional hinged supporting legs, all joined by strengthened with square section stretchers. Applied with a plaque stating ‘Distinctive Furniture: Made by the Wesleyan Mission Workshop, Tumkur, Mysore State’. Anglo-Indian, circa 1900.
‘The Kingdom in a kingdom: English Methodist Mission in Mysore State 1813-1913,’ an eBook by A J Anandan, provides a comprehensive evaluation of this Mission’s activities in the princely state of Mysore. It also explores the unique nature of the relationship between the Maharajas and some of the missionaries.
An Anglo Indian rosewood end support library table, the rectangular top with shaped short sides, decorated with wide satinwood banding, the frieze with two drawers on one side and two dummy drawers on the reverse all with herringbone veneers and knob handles, raised on turned baluster end supports with arched acanthus-carved scroll legs. Indian, circa 1840
A Napoleon kingwood marble free-standing writing table attributed to Sormani, the shaped rectangular top inset with Breche d’Alep marble within wide ormolu edging, all above three frieze drawers on one side with dummy fronts on the other, all raised on cabriole legs, decorated in marquetry with flowerheads scattered on cross-banding and opulent ormolu mounts comprising scrolls, acanthus, sabots and elegant female busts to the corners. French, circa 1860.
Paul Sormani (1817-1877) was Italian born, establishing his first workshops in Paris in 1847, finally settling in Rue Charlot in 1867 and offering works of ‘a quality of execution of the first order’. His specialty was copies of furniture in the style of the ‘Ancien Regime’. The firm exhibited at the Paris Expositions Universelles of 1855 and 1867, and London 1862 and won several medals for excellence.
A Regency mahogany centre table attributed to Gillows, the circular tilt-top with book-matched quarter veneers, raised on a reeded column with an acanthus carved flange and triangular platform base on three outswept legs. English, circa 1830.
A Louis Philippe giltwood demi-lune console table, the original shaped breche d’Alep marble top set on a frieze carved with olive branches, the four tapering stop-fluted legs joined by a double guilloche carved stretcher centred on a classic urn, regilded. French, c1840.
The kidney-shaped desk first appeared as a writing or dressing-table during the Louis XV period (1715-1774) in France before being introduced into England in the late 18th century. It evolved to incorporate drawers and often small shelves in the Sheraton period, see ‘The Cabinet Directory’ of 1803. The finest Victorian examples were made by Gillows following the design for ‘An Oak Pedestal and Kidney Table supplied to Ferguson & Co.’ in the ‘Gillows Estimate Sketch Books’ (1840). See Susan E Stuart ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840,’ (ibid), Vol. I, p.339, pl. 393 for a similar walnut desk also stamped and with Bramah locks, which once belonged to the cricket writer Brian Johnston (1912-1994).