A Regency gilt-metal mounted rosewood center table circa 1815

the circular top with gilt-brass banding above a conforming frieze with beaded banding, tilting above a faceted flaring stem with spreading foot, the quadrapartite base on scrolled winged paw feet, on casters.

Sold, Christie's New York, October 19, 1993, lot 257

Overall very good restored condition; good quality, rosewood veneered on mahogany top; the top with some light surface abrasions and light surface scratches; some perishing to finish of the frieze and with a small chip to veneer to bottom edge; thin age cracks to the stem; age cracks to veneers of concave sides to quadripartite base and with a loss to veneer of one canted corner approximately 1 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch; another canted corner with losses to the veneer approximately 1 1/2 inch square; overall with some light scratches and marks.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present table is associated with a group of furniture in the Louis XVI-influenced, late Georgian style promoted by the architect Henry Holland.  His designs were in part inspired by the drawings his pupil Charles Heathcote Tatham made during a visit to Rome in the last decade of the 18th century.  These drawings provided important source material for Tatham's Etchings representing Fragments of Grecian and Roman Architectural Ornaments, 1806.  Holland, the architect of Southill Park, Bedfordshire, is traditionally considered to have collaborated with the furniture makers Messrs. William Marsh and Thomas Tatham in the design of some closely related tables for the house.  Furthermore, it is significant that Thomas Tatham's brother Charles Heatchote Tatham was employed by the firm and may have therefore contributed to the designs for this particular furniture commission (G. Jackson-Stops, 'Southill Park', Country Life, 28 April 1994, fig. 11).

Besides Marsh and Tatham's associations with Samuel Whitbread at Southill, they also worked with Henry Holland and Dominique Daguerre for the Duke of Bedford at Woburn and for the Prince of Wales at Carlton House (C. Gilbert and G. Beard, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, pp. 623-624).  

Further related tables include a rectangular occasional table illustrated in Edward T. Joy, English Furniture 1800-1851, 1977, p.65, a table with frieze drawers sold from The Collection of Lord and Lady White of Hull, Christie's New York, 30 April 1997, lot 40, an octagonal example sold Sotheby's London, 3 July 2003, lot 66 and a circular table sold Property from Two Ducal Collections, Woburn Abbey, Bedford, Christie's house sale, 20-21 September 2004, lot 1150.