A Regency gilt-brass mounted burr oak, ebony and brass marquetry center table

A Regency gilt-brass mounted burr oak, ebony and brass marquetry center table or teapoy attributed to George Bullock, the rising top containing a fitted interior for storage of fine tea
English. Circa 1810.
Measurements
Height 28in (71cm); width 23in (58.5cm); depth 18 3/4in (48cm)
Research:
Of burr oak, ebony and gilt-brass. The hinged rectangular top with stylized gilt-brass and ebony inlaid border and gilt-brass edge above a frieze with ebonized molding and rectangular frame to each side, and inlaid to the bottom edge in a repeating gilt-brass and ebony ivy leaf pattern. The top lifting to reveal a red velvet lined interior with two square lidded caddies and two reserves for mixing bowls (not present). The four turned legs headed by gilt-brass lotus capitals above a fluted section at the frieze and legs united by a turned H-shaped stretched joined at the intersection of each leg by a block with gilt-brass flowerhead, and with a plain block at the center of the turned central stretcher. The whole raised on four turned cylindrical feet.

The cabinetmaker George Bullock (d. 1819) made his name as a highly important contributor to Regency design. Perhaps the most original furniture designer and maker of the period, he mastered many idioms from Gothick to classicism.

The clean, austere form of the present teapoy, with its trademark bands of ebony and brass marquetry depicting indiginous British flora, is very much in keeping with his timeless style and relates directly to two documented tables by Bullock. The first is a nearly identical teapoy, possibly the one supplied by Bullock circa 1815 to Don Pedro de Souza e Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmella (d.1850), for his London residence as Portuguese ambassador to the court of the Prince Regent, later King George IV. The second is a bog oak and inlaid brass worktable with marble top made for the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle, where Bullock is recorded in the accounts between 1814 and 1819.

The form of a specialized small table fitted with various compartments holding removable caddies for storing tea, came to be known as a teapoy towards the end of the eighteenth century. These were used “in drawing rooms to prevent the company rising from their seats whilst taking refreshment,”6 according to the Regency furniture designer George Smith (act. 1804–28) in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808).

Full research report available on request.