Footnotes

• Provenance:
  Possibly with the dealer Leonard Knight of Mayfair prior to 1929.
  
  Purchased by the vendor's father from Freddie Laycock of Burnsall, nr. Skipton, 7th October 1948 for £682-10-0 as a 'Rare and fine antique centre table of the Chippendale period (possibly made by Chippendale) with serpentine shaped top with carved edge, Hepplewhite style carved legs and shaped carved and swept rails, concertina arrangement to close and form a side table with folded top'
  
  An almost identical card table of slightly different dimensions was sold Christie's London, 50 Years of Collecting: The Arts of Georgian England, 14 May 2003, lot 30 (sold £240,450). The table was formerly in the collection of Thomas Inman and sold by Christie's 29 November 1979, lot 97. The table was purchased by the London dealers Norman Adams Ltd and subsequently illustrated in C.Claxton Stevens and S.Whittington, 18th Century English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection, Suffolk, 1985, p.311.
  
  In the catalogue note for the Christie's table it is suggested that the their table may be the pair to an example photographed from the stock of the London dealer Leonard Knight and described as a card table which was illustrated in J.Rogers, English Furniture, (revised and enlarged edition by M. Jourdain, London 1929, fig.177); although the dimensions given are different from the Christie's table it was suggested that there may have small measuring differences. Further to this, the table's description as a 'card table' may also have been inaccurate and that it was in fact a tea table, the error occurring from Rogers not having seen the piece in the flesh. The lot offered here does in fact differ in size from the Christie's table, being very slightly narrower and higher and it may be assumed therefore that it could be the table illustrated by Rogers.
  
  A more simplified pair of tables following this design formed part of the Moller Collection, sold Christie's London, 29 November 2002, lot 102.
  
  The stamp of H.Tibats on the hinges is thought to relate to Hugh Tibbats or Tibats (both spellings are recorded) 'hinge and sash fastening maker' of Bell Street, Wolverhampton, listed in 'The Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley, Bilston and Willenhall Directory, 1781'. The 'Tibats' stamped hinge has been recorded on a number of high quality concertina action tables. See (see P. Thornton, A Signed Hinge, in Furniture History, 1966, pp. 44-45).

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Category: Furniture / English Furniture and Works of Art

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