Thomas Moore
Head of Department
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Lot 82TP
A significant George IV mahogany partners' library table attributed to Gillows Circa 1830
13 – 14 July 2022, 14:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£12,000 - £18,000
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A significant George IV mahogany partners' library table attributed to Gillows
Circa 1830
The rectangular top inset with a gilt tooled leather writing surface and with an ovolo moulded edge, above six short opposing and mahogany-lined frieze drawers, on four large angled acanthus headed, strap-clasped, C-scroll carved and foliate wrapped S-scroll form legs, terminating in lobed bun feet and recessed brass castors, 194cm wide x 123cm deep x 79cm high, (76in wide x 48in deep x 31in high)
The rectangular top inset with a gilt tooled leather writing surface and with an ovolo moulded edge, above six short opposing and mahogany-lined frieze drawers, on four large angled acanthus headed, strap-clasped, C-scroll carved and foliate wrapped S-scroll form legs, terminating in lobed bun feet and recessed brass castors, 194cm wide x 123cm deep x 79cm high, (76in wide x 48in deep x 31in high)
Footnotes
Provenance
It seems probable that the offered lot was moved to Old County Hall in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, during the 1880s by John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831-1896). If this is indeed the case then it would have happened at roughly the same time that the 4th Marquess was elected Chairman on the then newly established Wiltshire County Council.
By repute it was formerly housed in the Ceremony Room at Old County Hall, possibly from the 1880s onwards.
Purchased by the current owner and vendor at Woolley and Wallis, Salisbury, 25 March 2015, Furniture and Works of Art, lot 306.
A mahogany library table attributed to Gillows, likewise dated circa 1830, which is virtually identical to the present example, sold Bonhams, 30 September 2008, The Knightsbridge Sale, lot 262.
The offered 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.
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.