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Fig. 1: The 1755 inventory of Ombersley by Richard Callowhill, where the present table is possibly recorded. Interestingly, when the document was heavily amended by Samuel’s daughter-in-law, Anna Maria, who dated her corrections 1st July 1775, the entry in respect of the ‘gilt table’ was left untouched, suggesting the table had remained in its position between the windows in the Dressing Room between 1755 and 1775, the period during which, coming after the end of his political career, Sandys spent most time at Ombersley.
A GEORGE I GILT-GESSO TABLE
W: 29.75” / 77.5cm
D: 17.75” / 45.5cm
Further images
Provenance
Supplied to Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys (1695-1770) for Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, England
By descent with the Barons Sandys at Ombersley until acquired by Rolleston
Ombersley Court Inventory, 1755, in ‘Inn the Drefsing Room’, ‘a gilt table between the windows carved.’
Literature
Arthur Oswald, ‘Ombersley Court, Worcestershire – I-III’, Country Life (January 1953)
Martin Davis, Samuel 1st Baron Sandys of Ombersley, 1695–1770: Fragments of Nine Lives, No. 1 (2017)
The example at Erddig Hall, Wales, NT 1146957, illus. Bowett, A., Early Georgian Furniture, 1715-1740 (Woodbridge, 2009), pp. 210-13, pl. 5:19
See also G. Beard and J. Goodison, English Furniture 1500-1840 (London, 1987), p. 53, fig. 6
A George I gilt gesso side table
Attributed to James Moore, circa 1725
A gilt gesso table with a shaped frieze decorated in relief with arabesques, shells, flowers and foliage, raised on cabriole legs with leaf-carved knees and scrolling feet.
The table was made for Ombersley Court, Worcestershire, probably for the Dressing Room adjoining the Velvet Bedchamber, where it may be identifiable with the pier table recorded “between the windows” in the 1755 inventory.
The form and decoration are associated with the work of James Moore (c.1670–1726), cabinetmaker to George I. Related features appear on documented and attributed furniture from his workshop, including a gilt gesso table at Erddig Hall. A group of gilt gesso pier glasses surviving from Ombersley Court also relates closely to Moore’s work of the early 1720s.
Ombersley Court was built and furnished for Samuel Sandys, later 1st Baron Sandys, during the 1720s. Sandys took an active role in the development and furnishing of the house, and the surviving inventories provide evidence for its early contents.
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