The present Pembroke table, together with lot 72, belongs to a group of satinwood furniture supplied by Gillows to John Christian Curwen M.P. for Workington Hall in 1788. The group includes the extraordinary Workington Commode (Stuart, op. cit., pp. 14-16) and a satinwood pier table (Boyton, op. cit., p. 161) whose unifying attribute is the accomplished shell inlay to the top of each piece. The Workington Commode is particularly noteworthy, as the doors are inlaid with depictions of an injured Cumbrian miner and a barefooted working girl. A departure from the usual allegorical figures from antiquity, the portrayal and celebration of working class people is remarkable but perhaps not surprising given the patron. A man of the people, Curwen once appeared in the House of Commons dressed like a Cumberland labourer and carrying a loaf and a cheese under his arms in an effort to highlight the plight of his constituents.