A George I gilt gesso side table

1720-1726, possibly by John Belchier

Footnotes

An almost identical gilt gesso side table to the offered lot is located in the Second Best Bedchamber at Erddig, a large historic house near Wrexham in Wales. It is first documented in a 1726 inventory undertaken at Erddig, and consequently is believed to date from the period 1720-1726. This closely comparable George I side table is illustrated and analysed in A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740, 2009, Woodbridge, fig.'s 5.19 & 5.21, pp.'s 210-211.

It is interesting to note that a silvered table of related form, size and proportions was supplied by the cabinet maker John Belchier for the Withdrawing Room at Erddig in 1726, also featuring in Ibid, fig. 5.20, pp.'s 210-211. According to what is recorded in Belchier's bill, this silvered piece of furniture cost John Meller £14 at that time. And the glass top is even engraved and painted with the Arms of the Meller family who then resided at Erddig.

Although both of these examples have a number of shared characteristics including distinctive punched grounds, elegant cabriole legs and similar shallow-relief decoration, there are however evident variations as well. The two tops are different whilst the gilt one at Erddig, as with the present model, has an ogee frieze whereas a cavetto one appears on the silvered table. Arguably the latter, despite its beautiful swags running between the front legs and apron (absent on the others), does not incorporate some of the finer details such as the more pronounced and confidently carved scrolls and shallow griffin busts featuring to the tops of the legs on both the offered table and the gilt one at Erddig. In addition, a white bole is evident underneath the surfaces of the silvered table, in place of the dark red bole which was clearly used for the others.

Consequently, it seems possible, but definitely by no means certain, that John Belchier was responsible for executing both of the aforementioned upon behalf of John Meller at Erddig. Thus, by extension the same uncertainty likewise applies to the current example too. Regrettably, in the absence of any relevant paperwork, it appears likely that we may never definitively know who made either the Second Best Bedchamber version or indeed the offered version. Unfortunately, this equivocation is only intensified by the fact that Meller also purchased furniture from other cabinet makers like John Pardoe and John Gumley at approximately the same time.

At Erddig, pairs of marble topped tables can be found in rooms such as the Hall and Salone. This fact suggests that the gilt Second Best Bedchamber model was perhaps also one of a pair that was commissioned by Meller, and if this was indeed the case then it would mean that the present lot was possibly originally housed alongside its companion in the revered Welsh historic home. But to be clear this is just one of a number of various postulations concerning such furniture.

To conclude, Adam Bowett asserts that: "the design of the Erddig tables is typical of the 'claw' cabriole-leg style which superseded pillar legs from circa 1715 onwards". He also notes that the gilt model at Erddig had a protective leather cover or case which was standard practice for such tables of this type and period. It is thus a fair assumption that the offered one also had this same type of covering at some point.

A further related example sold Christie's, London, 9 December 2010, The Gothick Pavilion - Byron to Beaton, lot 33.

Literature
A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740, 2009, Woodbridge.