A PAIR OF GEORGE III PAINTED SATINWOOD DEMI-LUNE CARD TABLES, CIRCA 1790, ATTRIBUTED TO SEDDON, SONS & SHACKLETON

Butterworth Ltd., London, 12 May 2004

The firm of Seddon, Sons & Shackleton was founded in 1753 by George Seddon (c.1727-1801) who bought London House, the former residence of the Bishop of London, together with its two-acre plot in Aldersgate St., where he established his shop and galleries. Despite their stature as one of the leading cabinet-makers of the late 18th century, whose known clients included the Empress of Russia, the 5th Duke of Bedford and Lord Mansfield of Kenwood House, few pieces survived which can be associated with these commissions.

Two of the largest documented groups were supplied to D. Tupper of Hauteville House, Guernsey in 1790, and Richard Hall Clarke of Bridwell House, Devon in 1793, both of which included satinwood seat furniture and tables painted with flowers¹. Seddon specialised in furniture of this type, establishing himself as the leading exponent of the use of painted satinwood. The exceptional quality of the silky West Indian timber used for the present tables, together with the painted convolvulus border to the tops (something of a Seddon leitmotif), clearly indicate their superb craftsmanship and justify an attribution to Seddon's workshop.

¹ For an example of a satinwood Pembroke table and one of a pair of card tables painted with a convolvulus border from Bridwell House see Christopher Gilbert, 'Seddon, Sons & Shackleton', The Journal of The Furniture History Society, 1997, p. 8-9, figs. 5-6, which were sold in these rooms, 19 June 1981, lot 109 and again, 9 July 1993, lots 172-3.