Scottish Double-Sided Mahogany Library Table of Large Scale, circa 1875

A circa 1875 Scottish solid mahogany double-sided library or writing table of very large scale and rectangular form by Glasgow cabinetmakers Francis & James Smith, LTD. (original enameled metal label to an interior drawer as shown), the original black tooled leather top inset above long aprons either side with banks of three locking drawers and turned knobs, one center drawer with liftable inset leather writing surface, raised on boldly turned legs of unusual design. Stunning, luminescent tibers with gorgeous patina.  A fine example from a rare firm.

The double-sided form of this table is commonly, but incorrectly, referred to as a "partners desk" due to its binary form, however by definition a partners desk is of double pedestal design. In addition to its original purpose, it could be chicly used as an unconventional dining table or for use in a commercial setting for display; clearance from floor to bottom edge is 23.25".

Biography*:

Smith, Francis & James (Ltd).

Glasgow, Scotland and London; cabinet makers, cabinet carvers, gilders, and upholsterers (fl. 1835-1907).

The firm was reportedly established in 1835 [The Furniture Gazette, 19 September 1874]. Possibly by Francis & James's father, Thomas (b.1811) who was described as an upholsterer employing 9 men and living at 18 Great Clyde Street (1851), as house & office furnisher living at Muirend House, Cathcart (1861). By this date his eldest son, Francis b. 1838, had entered the family business.

Francis & James Smith were listed as cabinet makers, cabinet carvers & gilders and upholsterers at Gordon Street & Union Street, Glasgow and 60 Berners Street, Oxford Street in The Furniture Gazette Directory, 1876 and at the Glasgow addresses in the same publication, 1877. Between 1873 and 1891 F. & J. Smith occupied this seven-storey warehouse on the corner of Union Street and Gordon Street. In 1881 the workshops in Kent Road, Glasgow were employing 60 men and 30 women and apprentices.

The partnership was dissolved in September 1877 but the firm continued trading under the same name and was recorded in The Furniture Gazette: Classified List of the Furniture, Upholstery and Allied Trades, 1886. Francis Smith was listed in census as master cabinet maker employing 60 men, 4 boys, 30 women & 6 girls (1881) and as cabinet maker (1891). The Glasgow Trades Directory, 1900-01, recorded Francis Smith, cabinet maker at 137a Sauchiehall Street; it also listed James Smith, cabinet maker, 51 Cheapside Street but it is not known whether this was Francis' brother.

John Campbell from Francis & James Smith presided at the 7th Annual meeting of the Glasgow Upholsterers on 14 March 1884 at the Queen’s Rooms [The Furniture Gazette, 22 March 1884].

In October 1882 F. & J. Smith supplied an Italian walnut suite for the retiring rooms in the Corporation Galleries, Glasgow in connection with the visit of the Duke & Duchess of Albany [The Furniture Gazette, 28 October 1882].

Francis Smith also received several Mackintosh commissions, which illustrate their manufactured furniture of contemporary design and construction; it is interesting to note that Mackintosh also split these commissions with other firms. The first was at Hous'hill (1904), which included a card table for the billiards room, now in the collections of Glasgow Museums, E.2002.5. They were also makers of a set of stained oak domino tables designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) for Miss Kate Cranston’s Ingram Street Tea Rooms, Glasgow, c. 1907.

*Courtesy of The Furniture History Society.