A Late George III Rosewood and Mahogany Drum Table, Circa 1800

Supplied to King George IV (1762-1830) when Prince of Wales for Brighton Pavilion

Transferred by Queen Victoria (1819-1901) in 1844 from Brighton Pavilion to Buckingham Palace, where inventoried in 1866

Removed from Buckingham Palace prior to 1911

Jeremy Ltd, London

Private Collection, Connecticut

Sotheby's New York, 17 October 2015, lot 586

The Prince of Wales first visited the burgeoning seaside resort of Brighton in 1783, and in 1786 acquired a lodging house which his architect Henry Holland transformed into a French-inspired neoclassical pavilion. From 1815-22 the pavilion was metamorphosed by the architect John Nash into an Indo-Islamic palace and richly furnished by the designers Frederick Crace and Robert Jones with colourful interiors in the Chinese, Mughal and Islamic taste.

After George IV's death the pavilion continued to be used as a Royal seaside retreat by his successors William IV and briefly by Queen Victoria, who found Brighton lacked privacy and decided to construct Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, selling the Pavilion to the town of Brighton in 1846 but first removing the entirety of the furniture and fittings for use at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. The numbers stamped on the underside of the present table correspond to the 1866 inventory of Buckingham Palace undertaken by Holland & Sons. It is not known exactly when the table left the palace, but it must have been prior to 1911 when all the furniture present had paper labels affixed. Queen Victoria is likely to have offered the table as a gift.