Fine Brass-Inlaid Scalloped Tripod Table, Attributed to Frederick Hintz

This rare and fine brass-inlaid scalloped tripod table, attributed to Frederick Hintz, circa 1745-1750. The finely figured mahogany top is carved in a bold scalloped outline, composed of ten conjoined round petals all delicately inlaid with brass stringing and enclosing a central pentafoil panel. Engraved brass and mother-of-pearl foliate and leaf inlay decorate the center within the shapes’s voids, characteristic of the works attributed to Frederick Hintz (along with the better known John Channon), a London-based cabinetmaker and leading proponent of German and French-inspired taste for brass-inlaid furniture of the time. Hintz worked from the premises at ‘The Porcupine,’ Newport Street near Leicester Square, London, during the mid-18th century and is recorded at this address from at least 1738.

The column support, ring-turned above a finely carved wrythen knop, rises from a tripod base with knees ornamented by shell and bellflower carving. Each leg is elegantly pierced and ends in an elongated ball-and-claw foot. The definitive work on this form is illustrated in several closely related examples in John Channon and Brass-Inlaid Furniture 1993 by Christopher Gilbert and Tessa Murdouch. The authors note that there are only thirty-four brass-inlaid pillar and claw tables recorded, of which just thirteen have ten circular petals (see pages 113-120).