A GEORGE III BRASS-MOUNTED MAHOGANY AND AMARANTH SERPENTINE DRESSING-TABLE

This form of table derives from French patterns introduced by the emigrant cabinet-maker Pierre Langlois (fl. 1759-1781) and illustrated on his trade card (reproduced in A. Heal, The London Furniture Makers, 1953, p.94). Langlois is known to have supplied one such table to Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland in the early 1760's for Alnwick, Northumberland (P. Thornton and W. Rieder, 'Pierre Langlois, Ebeniste' Part 4, The Connoisseur, April 1972, p. 258, fig. 4). Thomas Chippendale (d.1778) and John Cobb (d.1778) further popularised this form of serpentine table, the former supplying a writing-table of similar design to Sir Rowland Winn for Nostell Priory as early as 1766 (illustrated in A. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture, London, 1968, pl.354). This form of table was often designed with hinged top concealing compartments and a mirror, as in the present example, and was subsequently included as a design for a 'Lady's Dressing-Table' in Messrs. A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788, pl 2. A similar dressing-table, lacking undertier, was sold from the Estate of David Berg, Christie's, New York, 21 October 1999, lot 87 ($27,600).