A GEORGE IV BRASS INLAID ROSEWOOD CENTRE TABLE, CIRCA 1820, ATTRIBUTED TO GILLOWS

One of a pair, possibly supplied to George Hay Dawkins-Pennant (1764–1840) for Penrhyn Castle, Bangor, Wales;

thence by descent until sold John Pritchard & Co., For Lady Janet Douglas Pennant, Penrhyn Castle Bangor, Catalogue of Valuable Linen, China and Furniture, 20-23 September 1955, lot 1077 when described as 'A fine rosewood and inlaid brass circular dining table on pillar plinth and 3 claw feet 48 inches diameter'.

Probably the ‘Rosewood Loo table with top inlaid with brass table’ recorded in the 1928 probate inventory of Edward Sholto Douglas-Pennant, 3rd Baron Penrhyn (1864 –1927) and listed in the Large Bedroom Lower Library.

The present table and its pair, which remains in the collection at Penrhyn Castle (NT 1420719) and is currently located in the Ebony Room, was almost certainly supplied by Gillows. The attribution is based on a design illustrated in the firms' Estimate Sketch Book of 1822 (No. 3146) as well as a number of constructional traits.

Penrhyn Castle was re-built between 1820 and 1833 for George Hay Dawkins Pennant by the famous architect Thomas Hopper (1776–1856). Hopper shunned the prevailing fashion for Gothic architecture instead embracing an unorthodox neo-Norman style which was perfectly suited to the crenelated keeps of castles across England and Wales. A true architect-designer, Hopper oversaw the designing and building of the furniture at Penrhyn, all of which was made by local craftsmen. Designed in the classical Louis XIV taste, the present table is perhaps at odds with Hopper's aesthetic and could have been supplied to Penrhyn Castle at a later date.

Sotheby's would like to thank Richard Pennington, House and Collections Manager at Penrhyn Castle, for his assistance with cataloguing this lot.