Extremely Fine Regency Rosewood and Casuarina Sofa table firmly attributed to Gillows of Lancaster, with John Mclean pattern handles and escutcheons, of wonderful faded colour.
English Likely London made Circa 1810
Of conventional form with two side flaps and rectangular section, this fine table is very rare because of the exotic woods used and the quality of its manufacture. The piece is veneered principally with rosewood but the top is crossbanded with amaranth and there are inlaid panels of casuarina oak from Australia (see below). The table has two end supports, an elegant arched stretcher, and two working and two dummy drawers in the friezes to front and back respectively. The primary decoration on this piece is the veneer used but the inlaid stringing employed on the drawer fronts and end blocks on the frieze and to the front and sides of the end supports is also extremely attractive and rather unusual. The combination of this decoration and the arched stretcher suggests an early regency period date as larger stretchers and increased amounts of ormolu mounts were typically used on the best pieces of the George IV. The table retains its fine original castors on the splayed feet and the proportions of the piece are perfect, meaning that it stands very well indeed.
This lovely table is unusual for a number of reasons. The combination of primarily rosewood veneers with boxwood and casuarina, sometimes wrongly known as partridgewood in the trade, is not at all common. An Australian wood, casuarina was an exotic accent that was first seen in England from the 1790s. By 1811, it was listed in the London Cabinet-Maker's Union Book of Prices as an optional veneer, costing an extra 3d per Pound when compared to the much more common mahogany.
The hardware on this piece is extremely noteworthy. Handles and escutcheons of this pattern are found on a series of important writing tables attributed to the Tottenham Court Road maker John McLean. Indeed a related sofa table with the same metalware was advertised by the important dealers Jeremy Ltd in Country Life on the 12th of November 1981. Handles aside, however, this piece is more likely to have been made by the firm of Gillows, suggesting that they and McLean had a common supplier of metalwork at this time. This factor alone makes it more than likely that our table was produced in the Gillows Oxford Street workshops perhaps as the cost of using hardware of this sort would have been prohibitive in Lancaster. The Oxford Street workshop was extremely fashion-focused, picking up on the latest trends in furnishing and interiors and in some cases even setting these trends through their own designs and the quality of this piece is certainly of the required standard associated with these fine makers. Interestingly a writing table and sofa table at Shuborough in Staffordshire, supplied by the Gillows firm, used these same handles and escutcheons (see Country Life 25th of February 1954 p.513, figs. 8 and 9).
Our table appears to be the pair to one sold at Christie's on the 24th of April 2008, lot 122 for £17,300
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5058723
The tables are of precisely the same model, made in the same woods, and the grain patterns of the tops suggest that these two tables could well have been made from the same timber blanks as part of the same commission. This model along with ours are comparable to a pair of rosewood sofa tables provided by Gillows in 1803 for Stephen Tempest at Broughton Hall, Yorkshire. As with the aforementioned, this pair feature beautifully curved cross stretchers, closely related bandings and inlay, whilst they are likewise of elegant proportions. One of these, which is fitted with a games slide, is illustrated in S. Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, 2008, Woodbridge, Vol. I, pl.268, p.264.
It is rare to come across a sofa table with this level of quality and visual appeal and it will enhance any fine quality collection.
Extended 62 inches - 157.5cm
Width: 40 1/2 inches - 103cm
Height: 28 1/2 inches - 73cm
Depth: 28 inches - 71.5cm
