A George III inlaid mahogany, ebony and mangrove (?) Pembroke table circa 1780

the rectangular top flanked by flaps with rounded corners and reeded edge and inlaid with a banding of linked circles above a frieze fitted with a drawer opposed by a dummy drawer inlaid with a Greek-key pattern and raised on square tapering legs head by inlaid canted rectangular panels centerd by mangrove (?) wood above linked pointed ovals ending in casters.

A number of cabinet making firms such as Mayhew and Ince as well as Gillows of Lancaster and London used various exotic woods in their commissions.  For example, in 1808, the Gillows firm was commissioned by Miss Elizabeth Giffard of Nerquis Hall to make a lady's sewing box inlaid with numerous exotic woods.  Gillows numbered each panel and provided a key naming each wood.  The main wood veneer of the present Pembroke table is very similar to No. 44 of the box, which is described as Mangrove, on the Gillows key.  See Susan Stuart, Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840, Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Club Ltd., vol. II, plate. 686, pp. 139-163.