Lot 249 , A Gillows, Lancaster Reformed Gothic oak library table, c.1850, after designs by A. W. N. Pugin (1812-1852), width 152cm, depth 74cm, height 74cm

A Gillows, Lancaster Reformed Gothic oak library table, c.1850, after designs by A. W. N. Pugin (1812-1852), width 152cm, depth 74cm, height 74cm the rectangular top inset with a green leather skiver, the shallow frieze fitted with three drawers opposing three dummy drawers, each with Gothic metal handles and escutcheons, probably supplied by Hardman and Iliffe of Birmingham, each end of the frieze carved with the monogram ‘CGF’ and Tudor rose roundels, on overlapping leaf carved octagonal twin trestle end supports and sledge feet with Tudor rose roundels joined by a central stretcher with visible pegged mortice and tenon joints, lacking concealed castors.

cf. two similar designs for writing tables by A. W. N. Pugin in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, accession no. E.447-2023 and E.1640-1912 (see extra photo’s attached of these sketches). Both sketches include overlapping leaf carved octagonal twin end supports, joined by a stretcher with pegged mortice and tenon joints.
The writing-table pattern relates to that of Pugin's 'New Palace' table, whose leaf-imbricated pillars corresponded to an 'architect's table' which he designed for his own use in 1835 (Report by the Victoria & Albert Museum concerning the furniture in the House of Lords, London, 1974, pl. Vl; and C. Wainwright 'Furniture' Chapter XIII of M.H. Port, The Houses of Parliament, London, 1976 p. 197). The hexagonal pillars match those of his standard House of Lords chairs of the 1840s (Report, pl. I), and feature in a related late 1840s tracing of Pugin's design for a table that survives in the House of Lords Record Office (ibid., fig. 192). A writing table executed to the latter design circa 1850 has been attributed to the Bond Street cabinet-maker John Webb (ibid., fig. 197). A sketch for a related three-drawer table supplied to Ferguson & Co., London, features in the Gillow Estimate Sketch Book, 20 March 1852 (no. 5821).
£1,500-2,000

Sold for £1,900