Object Description
An Exhibition-Quality Burr Walnut and Marquetry Centre Table
Designed by Richard Bridgens (1785-1846)
The circular top characterised by a central quarter-veneered field of beautifully figured burr walnut, surrounded by a wide shaped border of floral marquetry of specimen woods, dyed and heightened with scorched edges, interspersed with butterflies, all on a dark stained background demarcated with tulipwood crossbanding and boxwood stringing; the moulded edge of a deep Goncalo alves. The triform base similarly veneered with scrolled feet, hidden castors, and floral marquetry.
English, circa 1840
This table is of a type designed by Richard Bridgens in his Furniture with Candelabra of 1838, plate 16 where it is titled ‘Marqueterie Centre Table’ [sic]. Only a handful of the top English cabinetmakers were able to produce such tables, with documented examples by firms such as Gillows, Morant, and Robert Blake.