AN REGENCY BROWN OAK, BURR OAK, EBONY AND LABURNUM CENTRE TABLE ATTRIBUTED TO GEORGE BULLOCK, CIRCA 1815 The cedar lined drawer with ebonised divisions, the lock stamped 'GR' under a crown and 'PATENT', on turned laburnum legs 68.5cm high, 63.5cm wide, 48.5cm deep Provenance: With James Graham-Stewart, from whom purchased by Robert Kime 29th June 2019. Literature: A. Coleridge, 'The work of Bullock cabinet maker in Scotland', Connoisseur, 1965, vol. CLVIII, pp. 249-252; vol. CLIX, pp. 13-17. E.T. Joy, 'A Modernist of the Regency: George Bullock, Cabinet-maker - I, Country Life, 22 August 1968, pp. 456-457; 'A Source of Victorian Romanticism: George Bullock, Cabinet-maker - II', Country Life, 29 August 1968, pp. 507-508. C. Wainwright, 'Walter Scott and the furnishing of Abbotsford', Connoisseur, 1977, pp. 3-15. C. Wainwright et al, George Bullock Cabinet-Maker, London, 1988. M. Levy, 'George Bullock's partnership with Charles Fraser, 1813-1818, and the stock-in-trade sale, 1819', Furniture History, 1989, pp. 145-213. This table is attributed to the cabinet-maker, sculptor and designer, George Bullock (d. 1818) based on two designs for marquetry borders that form part of the Tracings by Thomas Wilkinson from the designs of the late Mr. George Bullock 1820 found on the table top and frieze (Birmingham Museums Trust 1974M3.124 and 1974M3.150). Evidence from Bullock's stock-in-trade sale, Christie's, 3-5 May 1819, and on documented furniture 'suggests that the most frequently used borders and friezes used by Bullock were kept in stock and applied to appropriate pieces as required' (Levy, 1989, p. 152). A similar band of inlay but in brass (to that of the table top border) can also be seen on a pair of larchwood cabinets made by Bullock for Blair Castle (Coleridge, 1965, vol. CLVIII, nos. 4 and 5).The form of this table can be compared to an oak, ebony and satinwood games table illustrated in Wainwright, 1988, p. 110, fig. 47, which in turn relates to a bog oak and marble-top table supplied by Bullock for the Duke of Atholl (Coleridge, 1965, vol. CLVIII, no. 3). A related 'Elizabethan' style centre table following a design attributed to William Atkinson and probably made by George Bullock was supplied to the 3rd Earl of Mansfield at Scone Palace circa 1815 (sold Christie's, London, 'Scone Palace and Blairquhan: The Selected Contents of Two Great Scottish Houses', 24 May 2007, lot 414). An example of the striking contrast of light and dark timbers as found on this table is also found on a games table attributed to Bullock, sold Christie's, New York, 23 October 2018, lot 270. Condition Report: Overall there are some scratches, marks, knocks and abrasions consistent with age and use.Observations include:The top has a few slightly distinct scratches, some knocks to the front right corner and a barely discernible slight indentation along an underlying carcass construction joint, some slight raised veneer - all that said, these observations are only apparent on close inspection.There are some vertical veneer cracks to the corners of the frieze over carcass construction joints.There is one key that operates the lock.Two legs have cracks along the grain of the timber.There are cracks to one drawer runner so that part of it is loose.Please see the additional condition report photographs as a visual reference of condition. Condition Report Disclaimer
