Footnotes

Provenance
The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, Stationers' Hall, the City of London Livery Company for the Communications and Content Industries, Ave Maria Lane, London.

Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers
This renowned Livery Company (aka The Stationers' Company), one of the most historic in Britain, has represented publishing and communications professionals since 1403. Originally formed to represent members of a manuscript-based book trade, the Stationers' Company rose to prominence with Caxton's introduction of the printing press to England in 1476. As the subversive potential of this new technology was recognised, successive English governments during the turbulent sixteenth and seventeenth centuries enlisted the Stationers' help in regulating the press, making the Company a dominant force in the publishing landscape for some time to come.

The Stationers embraced their position, fully participating in the pomp and pageantry of the city of London. Rebuilt in the 1670s on its original foundations, after the Fire of London ravished its medieval structure, Stationers' Hall is a testament to the Company's rich social and cultural life over the centuries. Today the headquarters of a vibrant professional membership organisation, in the Hall's fabric, fittings and fixtures are inscribed the history of a London Livery Company where tradition and innovation have always gone hand in hand.

A Similar Table within the Sphere of London-Made Furniture of the Period
A closely comparable second quarter 18th century padouk wood concertina-action card table sold Sotheby's, New York, 29 October 1983, lot 76. This table is of conforming outline, form and date of manufacture to the pair which comprise the offered lot. It subsequently sold Christie's, New York, 25 October 1986, lot 147 and then also later, Christie's, London, 9 July 1992, Important English Furniture, lot 47.

The same single table is illustrated in C. Gilbert & T. Murdoch, John Channon and Brass-inlaid Furniture, 1730-1760, New Haven and London, 1993, pl.'s X-XIII. This mother of pearl and brass inlaid example is placed therein within the wider context of those cabinet makers, including John Channon, that were based in London at various points during the 1730s and 1740s. They were producing mainly brass inlaid works, albeit on occasion using mother of pearl inlay either instead or together with the former. These include such prominent figures and firms as: J. Graveley, Landall & Gordon, in addition to arguably the two most renowned German-born makers operating at that time, Abraham Roentgen and Frederick Hintz.

Similarities and Variations between the Present Tables and the Comparable
Both the above card tables and the single related version are made from the same highly prized padouk timber, whilst all three have eared shaped tops, everted aprons, plain cabriole legs and pad feet of parallel form and design. Each of the current pair has a hinged top enclosing a playing surface which is inlaid with tablets of exotic mother of pearl flowers executed in the Chinese taste that was so fashionable during that period. Also, significantly, the mother of pearl inlay appearing to the opened-out top of the singular antecedent model is virtually identical to that on the offered tables.

The major influence of the Far East, especially in the form of Chinese and Indian design, upon the London cabinet making industry during the first half of the 18th century is analysed at some length in A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740, 2009, Woodbridge. Examples of English furniture executed in various exotic timbers, and often inlaid with similarly exotic materials such as ivory, are illustrated in the first chapter, which is entitled: "The London Furniture Trade", Ibid, pp.'s 10-53. Also of note and particular relevance here, together with images of japanned and imported lacquer pieces, is a fine huang-huali hall chair (actually one from a set of eight) dating to the period 1730-1740, which has stunning mother of pearl inlay, appearing therein, pl. 1:39, p. 48.

However, it should be noted that the comparable table, which as detailed above has been sold on three separate occasions at auction, employs elongated oval brass inlaid tablets to its frieze, as well as having a foliate strapwork pattern of brass inset into its uppermost surface. Neither of these elements feature on the present ones. Nonetheless, the matching size and proportions of all of these pieces, along with their very similar concertina-action mechanisms (and general iron work), strongly suggest that they were all executed either at the same cabinet making workshop, or even possibly by the same team of craftsmen.

The Context
There are parallels between these tables and an important group of furniture which has traditionally been attributed to, or perhaps more accurately directly associated with, the renowned cabinet maker John Channon. Channon was, and indeed still is, celebrated not only for his masterful brass inlaid oeuvre, but also for his skill at choosing exceptional hardwood timbers combined with his select application of engraved mother of pearl inlay. Both of these latter elements are clearly evident on the offered lot.

John Channon and Abraham Roentgen
It seems that the use of such beautiful inlaid details as engraved brass and engraved mother of pearl (sometimes engraved ivory), executed to the highest possible standard, was a specialism of the famous foreign cabinet maker, Abraham Roentgen, as well as Channon. Interestingly, it was previously postulated that Roentgen had worked together with the latter whilst the German was temporarily located in London during the years, 1733-1738. And this was certainly one idea put forward in R.W. Symonds, "Furniture in the Soane Museum", Country Life, fig. 8, pp.'s 220-223.

In actual fact, theories concerning this possible working relationship between Channon and Roentgen were first introduced in a series of three articles featuring in The Victoria and Albert Museum Bulletin. These were: J. Hayward, "English Brass-inlaid Furniture", Vol. I, No. 1, January 1965; "The Channon Family of Exeter and London, Chair and Cabinet Makers", Vol. II, No. 2, April 1966; and P. Thornton & D. Fitz-Gerald, " Abraham Roentgen, Englische Kabinettmacher", Vol. II, No. 4, October 1966.

However, the aforementioned C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch book, published in 1993, appears to cast some doubt upon this suggestion. The authors of chapter four, H. Hayward and S. Medlam, claim that there is no documentary evidence for this supposed collaboration whilst Channon, who was born and grew up in Exeter, only moved to London in the year 1737. In light of this fact, it does seem unlikely (though not impossible) that Channon and Roentgen managed to co-operate on any specific commissions, especially given that the latter left London to return to Germany only one year after this date. But as Hayward and Medlam summarise so appropriately, Ibid, p.26:

'Channon may well have known Abraham Roentgen during the single year in which they were both in London, and though this may seem a brief association at best, there is always the possibility that Channon had contact with him later. Certainly Roentgen valued his connections with England.

Aside from their penchant for utilising brass, mother of pearl and sometimes ivory inlay, both Channon and Roentgen had a distinct preference for working with exotic hardwoods such as Brazilian rosewood and hard mahogany. Whilst it is evident that the padouk timber, particularly in Channon's case, tended to be reserved for his most important commissions. An example of this are the spectacular pair of Powderham padouk bookcases, circa 1740, which are thus far the only furniture recorded as definitively by Channon. In fact one of them bears a brass plaque engraved with: '1740, J. CHANNON'.

The Influence of German and Germanic Design upon Contemporary English Furniture
Undoubtedly, the impact of Germanic furniture upon English makers was strengthened by the presence of such itinerant German figures as Roentgen. But this also functioned the other way around, or vice versa, with a great deal of the contemporary output in Germany being strongly affected by English work and English precursors.

Often the form and general design of English pieces during this period, with their typical sense of restraint, practicality and balanced proportions, had a powerful impact upon German makers, both those based abroad in countries like England and those permanently resident in their country of origin. Whilst characteristics more often associated with contemporaneous German furniture, such as flamboyant shaping, exuberant carving and intricate inlay can certainly be found on a number of English, or at least London-made, models.

The fashion for elegant, yet intensely practical, tables made in England during the 1730s and 1740s appears to have had its roots in the recorded output of Thomas Potter, who collaborated with John Kelsey in the late 1730s. Examples of the former's productions of this type fill virtually the entire page of an advertisement signed by Potter, which appears in Ibid, pl. 11, p. 19. These are predominantly multi-functional and multi-purpose items which incorporate a range of extending mechanisms, concealed locks, hinged surfaces and multiple hidden compartments.

Such aspects clearly had a huge impact then on German, or perhaps more strictly speaking Anglo-German, output, and in particular upon the work of Abraham Roentgen. Indeed, seen from the opposite perspective, the influence of Continental, specifically French and German, attributes on the London furniture market is expertly analysed to an impressive level in chapters four and five, Ibid, pp.'s 24-45. Regrettably there is not sufficient space herein to do this subject justice.

Metal Work and Mechanisms
A final area of significance are the mechanical features on the present tables. The locks, concertina actions and hinges all seem sophisticated, especially given the date of their manufacture, whilst they also clearly indicate the influence of continental metal work. In particular, the iron locks to the rear of the friezes and smoothly operating concertinas are reminiscent of contemporary German productions within this field at that time.

Another instance of mechanical ingenuity relates to the short central drawer to one of the offered tables. This would have almost certainly been opened or 'released' through means of a long pin or spiked instrument inserted through the small hole on the front. An example of such an instrument made to be similarly used for the exceptional Murray cabinet, attributed to Channon, features in Ibid, fig. 91, p. 87. It seems likely that as a consequence of the presence of this hole on the current models such a drawer would have originally been spring-loaded, but unfortunately this no longer operates in the same way since the appropriate mechanism is now missing.

Literature
C. Gilbert and T. Murdoch, John Channon and brass-inlaid furniture, 1730-1760, New Haven and London, 1993.
A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740, 2009, Woodbridge.
R.W. Symonds, "Furniture in the Soane Museum", Country Life.
The Victoria and Albert Museum Bulletin;
J. Hayward, "English Brass-inlaid Furniture", Vol. I, No. 1, January 1965; "The Channon Family of Exeter and London, Chair and Cabinet Makers", Vol. II, No. 2, April 1966; and P. Thornton & D. Fitz-Gerald, " Abraham Roentgen, Englische Kabinettmacher", Vol. II, No. 4, October 1966.