A George II mahogany console table mid 18th century

The present table relates to a design by William Jones illustrated in The Gentleman or Builder`s Companion, 1739, pl. 27. Primarily an architect, Jones followed in the tradition of William Kent and was responsible, among other buildings, for the celebrated rotunda in the pleasure gardens at Ranelagh, Chelsea, a rallying point for fashionable London society in the mid 18th century. The designs contained in The Gentleman or Builder`s Companion were originally published in 1736 as an appendix to James Smith`s Specimens of Ancient Carpentry , but were issued separately three years later and played a significant part in the dissemination of the Palladian style, being among the earliest published collections by any furniture designer.