Object Description
An Exceptional Boulle and Ormolu Mounted Games Table in the French Louis XVI style attributed to Thomas Parker (active 1805-1830)
English Circa 1825
Conceived in the most luxurious taste possible, this fine piece is an example of the Francophile tastes of a small circle of connoisseur collectors closely related to King George IV himself who was the figurehead of this particular artistic movement.
The table is conceived in the French Louis XIV style with shaped cabriole legs and a broadly rectangular top with mother of pearl inlaid chest board, all acting as the background upon which to utilise magnificent ormolu mounts, red ground boulle work and inlaid mother of pearl. The mask mounts on the piece presumably show Bacchus, indicating that these pieces were designed for pleasure and fun-appropriate for gaming tables. The contra partie boulle work is of the highest possible quality-the brasswork inlaid with delicacy and skill and with very little damage or wear and the mother of pearl bright and lustrous. The sabot mounts are also of exquisite quality with their hoof feet lending the table an even more exotic edge.
This table belongs to a select group of pieces of this same design which are all believed to have been supplied by the Parker family of cabinetmakers based in London. A nearly identical table to the present example, but in poor condition and in need of large amounts of restoration, was sold at Sotheby’s on the 28th of March 2017 lot 435 realising £28,750 and is believed to have been supplied to the Marquess of Lothian at Newbattle Abbey in Midlothian. Another example in premier partie was in the collection of Butchoff Antiques, London. The attribution of these tables to the Parker family is based upon a series of pieces supplied to King George IV when Prince Regent at Carlton House, some of which are still in the Royal Collection today.
https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/4/collection/177/vitrine-table
https://www.rct.uk/collection/search#/8/collection/33461/centre-table
Thomas Parker was established at 19 Air Street, Piccadilly from 1808-17 and then at 22 Warwick Street, Golden Square from 1817-27 and finally at 32 Warwick Street until 1830 after which date the firm closed. The Prince Regent favoured the firm as Parker supplied him with a pair of caskets-on-stands for Carlton House in January 1813 (see P. van Duin, ‘Two Pairs of Boulle caskets on stands by Thomas Parker, Furniture History, 1989, pp. 214-217 for the companion pair at Woburn Abbey); a pair of drum tables in April 1814 at a cost of £315 (Carlton House: The Past Glories of George IV’s Palace, 1991, p. 108) and a second pair of drum tables in 1817 costing £210. The gilt bronze mounts to the frieze on the present table relate closely to mounts of the pair of drum tables supplied to the Prince Regent. The figural mounts to the top of each leg are also very similar to those mounted on a pair of bureau plat attributed to Parker (one sold Christie’s, New York, 17 May 2006, lot 46).
This table is offered in exceptional condition have been through the hands of a museum conservator.