Description
A fine Regency period tilt-top brass inlaid mahogany and calamander library centre table.
Raised on a concave-sided triform base, with well-modelled cast-brass scrolling feet.
Also referred to as a monopodium (table).
All in excellent condition, well figured and of very good rich colour.
Typical of designs by Thomas Hope (1769-1831).
This form of antique table is also associated with work by George Bullock (1777-1818) and George Oakley (circa 1765-1841).
References:
A similar table with a leather insert, in the manner of Thomas Hope, circa 1800-1805, was sold in London for £39,650 – December 2010.
This early-19th century table is reminiscent of the ‘Grecian’ style that the pioneering collector and designer Thomas Hope (1769-1831) popularized in Britain with the publication of Household Furniture and Interior Decoration in 1807.
Thos. Hope (banker, born 1769, d. 1831) – Vis. Wikipedia for more info.
The furniture manufacturer George Oakley (circa 1765-1841) was greatly influenced by Hope’s designs, and produced fashionable furniture in this style, using brass and star inlays similar to our table on offer. The firm’s designs and craftsmanship earned them royal patronage, and Oakley worked for the Prince Regent at Carlton House, as well as supplying furniture and upholstery for The Mansion House and The Bank of England. His work for the Cheere family – of Papworth Hall, Cambridgeshire, UK – is well documented.
The reference to Geo. Oakley relates to a known table of this pattern in calamander wood and brass marquetry of starred-ribbon guilloche, which corresponds to the brass marquetry in a table supplied by Oakley in 1810 to Papworth Hall.
Literature:
R. Parker, History of Papworth Everard (1988).
C. Gilbert and G. Beard, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840 (1986) pp. 658-660.
Calamander, or coromandel, is a valuable wood from Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. It has a hazel-brown colour, with black stripes (or indeed vice versa), and is very heavy and hard. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calamander_wood
