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A George III patent extending mahogany dining table Est. 10000/15000...

Currency:GBP Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA
A George III patent extending mahogany dining table Est. 10000/15000...
A George III patent extending mahogany dining table, the top pulling out (with two brass end handles) to accommodate three leaves, the frieze with raised mouldings, on four short columns and four stepped and reeded sabre legs terminating in brass lions paw and ball casters linked by concave sided deep stretchers. It bears a brass plaque inscribed ‘S Martin, Invenit et Fecit’.

<p>This table is illustrated in Christopher Gilberts ‘Marked London Furniture 1700-1840’ (p320). The biographical notes relating to ‘S Martin’ are unfortunately inconclusive, but give a Samuel Martin in London at the end of the 18th Century, also, one in Norwich. Mention is also made of another firm, Messrs Benjamin Titter who are listed as ‘inventors and manufacturers, Norwich’ and seem to have specialised in similar patent tables.
A more likely attribution, though, might be made from an entry in ‘The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840’. This for ‘Martin & Smith, Norwich’ and refers to a table sold by Messrs Sothebys on 31st January 1964 as lot 231: Regency telescopic dining table recorded with backplate inscribed ‘New invented dining tables by Martin & Smith, Norwich. The end sections have broad rectangular tops with rounded corners, reeded edges and panelled friezes; each supported on four fluted legs, the outer two of sabre form, and joined by curved platform stretchers with brass lions paw feet.’ Although not an identical table, there are enough similarities to suggest the two tables may have been made in the same workshop.

<p>1.32m wide x 3.36m long x 1.50m closed, 0.74 high
<p>Est. 10000/15000