677 - A George III gaming table

A George III gaming table Rosewood, palisander, kingwood, mahogany, sand-shaded and dyed woods (maple?) on softwood; gilt-bronze fittings, leather. Games table with hinged top on a pierced apron and four slender, curved square-section legs. The top folds out towards the rear. The top with a trellis panel framed by a wreath of foliage, flanked by two small bouquets. Height 73.5, width 91.5, depth 45 cm. Attributed to Pierre Langlois, around 1759 - 67. Little archival evidence survives concerning the life of the French-born Pierre Langlois. His name remains familiar today because it is associated with numerous outstanding pieces of furniture. It is thought that he trained in Paris, perhaps under Jean-François Oeben (1721–1763). Around 1759, Langlois moved to England. Initially, he shared his workshop on Tottenham Court Road in London with his son-in-law, the bronze caster and gilder Dominique Jean, who produced the mounts for his furniture. Langlois’s London clients included John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (1710-1771), George William, 6th Earl of Coventry (1722-1809), and Horace Walpole. He supplied furniture to Lady Louisa Connolly in Ireland, at Castletown House in County Kildare, as well as to Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland, at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland. In England, the French cabinetmaker’s stamp was not compulsory, which is why a number of other pieces of furniture, such as this games table, are attributed to him solely on stylistic grounds. This lot contains organic material that does not permit the export of this lot into non-EU countries. Literature Cf. Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture. The Work of Thomas Chippendale and his Contemporaries in the Rococo Style, London 1968, p. 35, pl. 47, a three-drawer commode with identical wreaths of foliage on the side panels. For Langlois, see Murdoch, "Pierre Langlois: cabinet-maker to the world of fashion", in: Proceedings of the Huguenot Society XXVII (4), 2001, pp. 497 ff.