Description & Technical information

Then rectangular top veneered with mahogany and edged with finely reeded inset moulding. Retaining the original ornate brass gallery with turned columns, scrolls, anthemion and paterae. The frieze veneered with book-matched flame mahogany veneer with carved monopodia legs in the form of finely carved leopard heads with acanthus and terminating in paw feet on plinth bases veneered with flame mahogany. 

This rare and outstanding example of Regency furniture is inspired by designs from Ancient Egypt and adapted by designers such as Thomas Hope and George Smith in the early 19th century. Here the combination of perfect balance and elegance of form, together with outstanding craftmanship and choice of the finest timberes, is enhanced by an untouched patina and glorious colour acquired over the centuries. 

Balls Park, near Hertfordshire is a Grade I listed house built in the mid 17th century and claimed to have been the inspiration for some of Jane Austin's novel, Pride and Prejudice. In the middle of the 18th century, the house passed to the marquises Townshend of Raynham in Norfolk and was lived in by Lord Townshend who initiated roofing over the courtyard in the early 19th century and use if as a saloon. The estate was sold in 1946.

Date:  English
Period:  19th century
Origin:  English
Medium: Mahogany
Dimensions: 72 x 65 x 94 cm (28³/₈ x 25⁵/₈ x 37 inches)
Provenance: Balls Park Hertfordshire
With JAS A Lewis & Son, London, March 1955, John Sheffield, Laverstoke House, Hampshire

Literature: Maquoid and Edwards, Dictionary of English Furniture, 1927 Volume III, page, 133, fig 24.
Margaret Jourdain, Regency Furniture, page 143, fig, 163

Categories: Furniture