Writing table
Town and Emanuel
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1830 - 1850
Materials
Rosewood, brass, ebonised wood
Measurements
73.5 x 114 x 66 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Hinton Ampner, Hampshire (Accredited Museum)
NT 1529727
Summary
A brass-inlaid 'boulle marquetry' writing table, English, circa 1830-1850. By Town & Emanuel. Profusely inlaid on a rosewood and ebonised ground, the friezes and supports with scrolling and strapwork foliate detail, the rectangular top inset with a Berainesque design of musicians, actors and jesters on pedestals and animal orchestras arranged in vignettes around a central domed stage, the frieze with two drawers and raised on standard end supports with plinths and joined by a central flattened stretcher. Bearing the elaborate trade label of 'Town & Emanuel, Manufacturers of Buhl Marquetrie, Resner & Carved Furniture, Tripods, Screens, &c. of the Finest and Most Superb Designs of the Times of Louis 14th.Splendid Cabinets & Tables inlaid with Fine Sevre & Dresden China &c'
Full description
The Louis XIV, XV and XVI furniture styles were again very fashionable in the 1830s and 1840s and firms such as Town & Emanuel of New Bond Street, London (fl.1830-1849) cultivated the British aristocratic taste for such furniture by producing high quality copies, which included items in 'buhl' such as this writing table. Other labelled examples are recorded in the Royal Collection and the Burghley House collection. This table is illustrated in C. Gilbert Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840, FHS 1996, plate 905 and 906, amongst a number of other examples (plates 902 - 915).
Marks and inscriptions
Town & Emanuel, Manufacturers of Buhl Marqueterie, Riesner & Carved Furniture, Tripods, Screens, &c. of the Finest and Most Superb Designs of the Times of Louis 14th.Splendid Cabinets & Tables inlaid with Fine Sevre & Dresden China &c.
Makers and roles
Town and Emanuel , manufacturer
References
Pictorial Dictionary of Marked London Furniture 1700-1840 (FHS 1996), plate 905 and 906