George II Mahogany Concertina-Action Card Table

A very fine piece by an excellent London maker with hardware stamped H. TIBATS.

With a hinged serpentine top opening to a green baize-lined surface with a concertina action raised on foliate carved, c-scroll cabriole legs ending in scrolled French style feet. This table has excellent timber, is beautifully carved and crisp, and is a pleasure to look at.

It is gratifying to see the H. TIBATS stamp to the hinges as hardware from his firm appears exclusively on fine quality furniture from the finest makers. Hugh Tibats is recorded in Pearson and Rollaston’s directory of trades in Birmingham and the surrounding towns as a “hinge and sash maker, Bell Street.” Hinges with this stamp are found ona significant group of furniture from the mid 18th century including a pair of card tables supplied by Thomas Chippendale for the 5th Earl of Dumfries at Dumfries House in 1759.

Literature: P. Thornton, ‘A Signed Hinge,’ The Journal of the Furniture History Society, vol. 11, 1966, pp.44-45.

London, England. c. 1755