A Regency burr elm, pollard oak and brass inlaid breakfast table attributed to the workshop or circle of George Bullock

Footnotes

A figured oak octagonal table by George Bullock, circa 1815, with an apparently identical pattern of brass inlay to the border of its top as on the offered lot, sold Christie's, London, 18-19 September 2013, The Collection of Professor Sir Albert Richardson, lot 23. This same pattern also encompasses the top of a brown oak and holly centre table, dated 1817, originally at Tew Park and sold Christie's, Great Tew, 27-29 May 1987, lot 33, then subsequently Christie's, London, 27th November 2003, Important English Furniture, lot 160.

This particular honeysuckle, ivy and flowerhead design is number 208 among the Wilkinson Tracings which are the most important source relating to the output of George Bullock, housed at the City Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham. These Tracings, essentially a scrapbook comprising an assortment of engravings produced by Thomas Wilkinson either directly from or based upon designs by Bullock, were evidently originally compiled in 1820 (the date of the inscription on its first page), two years after the latter's death. C. Wainwright et al, G. Bullock, Cabinet-Maker, 1988, London, pp.'s 13-14.

Other Bullock tables which employ this distinctive border marquetry include one with a related panelled triform column and similar feet to the present model. This oak and ebony table was purchased by the Earl of Wemyss at the auction held by Christie's in 1819, the year after Bullock's death, and is illustrated in C. Wainwright et al, G. Bullock, Cabinet-Maker, p. 96. A further oak and holly version supplied to Countess Spencer in 1818 is also referenced in Op. Cit., p. 96, and interestingly although it is not pictured therein, mention is made of its 'elaborate marquetry three-sided base raised on curled-under-feet'. Such a description certainly suggests that this may be closely comparable to the base and feet on the offered example.

The brass inlay to the triform column of the present table relates to the pattern No. 237, Wilkinson Tracings, City Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham, which features on an impressive pair of brass 'buhl' inlaid cabinets provided by Bullock to Lord Abercorn in 1817, C. Wainwright et al, No. 23 & fig. 35, p. 85.

The inlay to each side of the concave base directly relates to a number of 'Thyrsus' drawings produced by Wilkinson, but is perhaps closest to the variant No. 41 in the 'Tracings'. The latter seems replicated on the two central brass marquetry doors of a rosewood and ebony cabinet attributable to Bullock. Both the design and the piece itself are prominently featured on the same page in C. Wainwright et al, No. 41 and fig. 44, p. 105. While another version of this 'hop-entwined thyrsus' pattern appears to each side of a similar concave base of an ebony and brass table with specimen marble top which is illustrated Ibid, No. 50, p. 112.

Aside from those pieces made as part of the commissions undertaken at Tew, Cholmondeley, Blair Castle, Abbotsford, Scone and St. Helena, it is actually difficult to attribute any furniture directly to Bullock due to the limited archival evidence proving his involvement in other projects. This issue tends to be exacerbated by the fact that even only shortly after Bullock's death in 1818, a group of cabinet makers, furniture designers and architects, who were all influenced greatly by the latter's output, appear to establish themselves as his natural successors.

These figures include Joseph Gandy, Richard Brown, George Morant, the partnership of Banting and Son, and Richard Bridgens. There is a possibility that the offered table might have been made by one of the last three figures. However it seems likely, due to its use of native timbers, restrained design and prominent use of Wilkinson pattern inlays to have been supplied either by Bullock's workshop (since it's recorded that this was still operating in the same capacity even a year or so after his death), or it was executed by the cabinet maker William Atkinson.

While Gandy and Brown were primarily architects, Bridgens tended to principally produce furniture in what he described as the 'Old English' style, which is often referred to as either 'Antiquarian' or somewhat disparagingly as 'Jacobethan revival'. Both G.J. Morant and the Banting and Son partnership flourished in the period 1825-40 and based their own work much more loosely upon Bullock's example than is apparently the case with the present model. This leaves William Atkinson who worked perhaps closest of all with Bullock at a number of houses including Biel, Panshanger, Scone, Abbotsford and St. Helena. Atkinson seems to have even worked alongside Bullock's firm until 1821 which certainly ties in with the date of this table, C. Wainwright et al, G. Bullock, Cabinet-Maker, 1988, London, pp.'s 13-39