A PAIR OF GEORGE II GREY-PAINTED CONSOLE TABLES

The model for this pair of white-painted pier tables almost certainly derives from designs by Matthias Lock first published in his Six Tables (1746), re-issued 1768 (M. Heckscher, ‘Lock and Copland: A Catalogue of the Engraved Ornament’, Furniture History, 1979, plate 9). The pattern books of Lock, and his sometime partner, Copland, such as A New Drawing Book of Ornaments, Shields, Compartments, Masks (c. 1746) and A New Book of Ornaments (1752), re-issued in 1768, were the first in England to publish ornamental designs in the Rococo or ‘French’ taste (ibid., p. 1). In 1744, Lock was described as: 'the famous Matthias Lock, a most excellent Carver, and reputed to be the best Ornament draughts-man in Europe’ (J. Simon, ‘Thomas Johnson: The Life of the Author’, Furniture History, 2003, p. 3). Such tables were according to Chippendale in his 3rd edition of the Director (1762) intended as 'Frames for Marble Slabs' (see plate CLXXV).