John Sandon
Consultant
Lot 62TP
A rare Henry VIII joined oak 'counter table', circa 1540
31 January 2019, 11:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £16,250 inc. premium
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A rare Henry VIII joined oak 'counter table', circa 1540
The boarded top with ovolo-moulded edge, historically adapted to hinge rather than slide, the front with three parchemin-carved panels, each with addorsed trilobe, above an ogee-profiled rail, centred by a carved cross and with each undulation filled with a stylized-leaf, the impressive single-panelled back with central upper key-hole, raised on multiple line-incised extended stile supports, the side rails with similar decoration, 98cm wide x 56cm deep x 74cm high, (38 1/2in wide x 22in deep x 29in high)
Footnotes
Provenance:
Roger Warner, The High Street, Burford, Oxfordshire
Sold Christie's, 'The Roger Warner Collection', South Kensington, 20 - 21 January 2009, Lot 365
The name 'counter table' describes a table with the top marked out with a series of lines and squares to assist with calculating accounts. Alternatively, a marked cloth could be used. The counted coins could easily be deposited into the chest by employing a sliding lid. It is now common to find the sliding top later hinged. Although these tables are rare, the Burrell Collection, Glasgow, has no less than three examples, all with parchemin panels, [Museum Nos. 14.358, 14:354 & 14,352], with one also carved with the arms of Scarborough and Ghisburn, Yorkshire. A counter table with linenfold-carved panels, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum [Museum No. W.49-1952].
For related illustrated tables see R. W. Symonds, 'The Counter Board', The Connoisseur, December 1951, p. 174, No. XII; Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture (1990), Vol. II, p. 147, fig. 3 and sold Sotheby's The Peter Gywnn Collection, London, 27th November 2001, Lot 3; S. W. Wolsey & R. W. Luff, Furniture in England: The Age of the Joiner (1968), pl. 122 and Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition (2016), p. 242, figs. 3:155 & 3:156.