A Two-Tier Lacquer Tea Table

c. 1876

This delicate, open, two-tier table was likely supplied ca. 1876-1880 by the English cabinetmaker and furnisher, Gregory & Co. of Regent Street, London as part of the original furnishings and decoration of George Peabody Wetmore's bedroom at Chateau-sur-Mer. In the shape of superimposed tea trays, the faux bamboo turned and splayed feet and the finish of its surface, the table is a highly artistic adaptation of traditional Japanese forms, and surfaces, for the English market. The "maki-e" lacquer techinque uses gold specks sprinkled from a tube that has a tiny screen cover so the specks create a ground design only in the top portion of the lacquered surface which is then brushed over with a translucent lacquer and polished.

English

Wood

28 1/2" x 26" x 15 1/2"

Purchased by The Preservation Society of Newport County, 1969.

PSNC.4724