Gateleg table
manner of Thomas Chippendale (Otley 1718 - London 1779)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1765 - circa 1775
Materials
Mahogany and turned mahogany, iron
Measurements
67.5 x 61 x 24 cm
Place of origin
St. Martin's Lane
Order this imageCollection
Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire (Accredited Museum)
NT 960209
Summary
A mahogany gateleg table, English, circa 1765 - circa 1775 With a rectangular top with two rectangular drop leaves. Raised on four slender columnar legs turned with rings, and two gates each of two supports. The feet turned as long, slender balusters, and with pear-shaped feet. -- There is no traceable reference to this table in the Nostell Priory accounts or correspondence linking it to Thomas Chippendale, but it is worth noting that it resembles a table - described in accounts as a 'neat Mahogany 8 leg Table of fine wood' - supplied to Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt. for Mersham Le Hatch, Kent, in 1768. The gateleg table, so popular in the 17th century, came back into fashion in this lighter form in the middle of the 18th century. The restrained elegance of this table, the beauty of its slender turnings, and the use of choice timber, suggest that it may have originated in Chippendale's workshop, despite the fact that it is not documented as such.
Provenance
Purchased by the National Trust by private treaty sale from Lord St Oswald in 2010.
Makers and roles
manner of Thomas Chippendale (Otley 1718 - London 1779) , cabinet maker
References
Gilbert (1978): Christopher Gilbert, The Life & Work of Thomas Chippendale (1978), 2 volumes., Vol. I, pp. 222 & 230; Vol. II, p. 224, Plate 410 for a similar table supplied to Mersham