CIRCA 1815

This richly embellished occasional table characterises the opulent taste of the Regency period promoted by the Francophile, George, Prince of Wales (1762-1830, later George IV), illustrated in the interiors at Carlton House, London, and the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. It was probably commissioned expressly to display the Italian marble slab inset with one hundred and twenty specimens of ‘Petre Silicie e Calcarie’, which would have almost certainly been acquired by a wealthy patron on the Grand Tour, with the table subsequently commissioned on return to England. From 1810, there was a revived interest in brass-inlay, and in particular that executed with tortoise-shell, as demonstrated in the oeuvre of the late 17th/early 18th century French ébéniste, André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). The specialist ‘buhl’ worker first appeared in London between 1815-20, the earliest exponents, listed as ‘buhl manufacturers’ in commercial directories, being Thomas Parker (active 1808-30) of Air Street and Louis le Gaigneur of Edgware Road (P. Kirkham, ‘Inlay, Marquetry and Buhl Workers in England c. 1660-1850’, The Burlington Magazine, June 1980, p. 416). An example of Parker’s buhl work can be found on a centre table, circa 1814-30, with related gilt-metal Bacchic lion feet, derived from antiquity, in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle (RCIN 33461). Another firm specialising in buhl work and ancien regime-style furniture was Town and Emanuel, established at 103 New Bond Street from about 1830 until 1849. An example of their superb craftsmanship is a games table, with mother of pearl, tortoiseshell and gilt metal veneers, 1835, in the Royal Collection (RCIN 21622).