A large carved and painted extending dining table, designed by Stéphane Boudin of Jansen 1935-6

in Bavarian Rococo style, with six short and one large additional leaves, the surface with mirrored tiles, damaged and with losses

Commissioned by Chips Channon (1897-1958) in 1935-6 for the Dining Room at 5 Belgrave Square

John Cornforth, The inspiration of the past, Harmondsworth, 1985, page 63 and 65
Country Life, 26th February 1938, page 222- 226

Will require extensive professional restoration. Chips to paint and losses to decoration. There are also losses to the stretchers with the connecting sections of carved timber now lacking. Parts missing which can be re-carved according to taste. There are losses to the mirrored panels and some breaks to this glass surface. Most of the leaves will require remaking. The telescopic action will need attention. An extraordinary table. 776cm. long when fully extended. 75cm. high. 150cm. wide.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

"Monsieur Boudin of Jansen came to us this morning with his final drawings and estimates for our dining-room which is to imitate and, I hope, rival the Amalienburg. It will shimmer in blue and silver, and have an ochre and silver gallery leading to it. It will shock and stagger London. And it will cost us over £6,000...." recorded Sir Henry ('Chips') Channon in his celebrated Diaries in 1935. The dining-room was the centrepiece of his makeover of the house at 5 Belgrave Square that he and his heiress wife, Honor Guinness, had acquired earlier that year as a stage for their entertaining. Politician and diarist, he described himself as "The Lord of Hosts" and the motivation for creating the room was to entertain the King who duly came to dinner with Mrs Simpson on 11 June 1936. Chips wrote in his diary "it was the very peak, the summit I suppose."

The house and the dining room have an important place in the history of 1930s taste. Upstairs on the first floor, Lord Gerald Wellesley and his partner, Trenwith Wills, designed a chaste Regency Revival library but it was – as Chips anticipated – the dining room on the ground floor that dazzled London.

Sacheverell Sitwell had published Southern Baroque Art in 1924 which lead to a re-appraisal of Rococo art and Chips himself wrote The Ludwigs of Bavaria in 1933. He engaged Stephane Boudin from the House of Jansen in Paris to create his rococo room and anticipated that it would be London's loveliest room. Boudin supervised the copy made from the room designed by the greatest of all rococo designers, Cuvilliés, at the Amalienburg Lodge in the grounds of Nymphenburg Palace in Munich. The rococo panelling at Belgrave Square was made in plaster and the dining-room furniture was a mixture of antique pieces such as the side table from the Palais Parr in Vienna and new pieces made by Boudin. The dining table had a mirrored top which echoed the mirrored panelling. The chairs were silvered and upholstered in sea-green silk to match the curtains. Meissen porcelain graced the table and the panelling was decorated with panels in the manner of Oudry. The effect was described by Chips on the night of the King's visit as dinner was announced, the "doors were flung open...and there was a pause as everyone's breath was quite taken away by the beauty of the dining-room..."