Lot 423
SIR ROBERT LORIMER (1864-1929) FOR LIBERTY & CO., LONDON
ARTS & CRAFTS LIMED OAK CENTRE TABLE, CIRCA 1924
Auction: 26 April 2017 at 11:00 BST
Description
the rectangular moulded top with later inset brass metre rule, above a deep apron with single drawer, raised on spirally fluted turned legs on platform stretchers linked by a stretcher and with moulded pad feet, stamped mark '6963'
Dimensions
152cm long, 77cm high, 76cm wide
Footnote
Provenance: Liberty & Co. London
Note: This table formed part of the collection of Arts and Crafts furniture made in the early 1920s for Liberty & Co.'s magnificent Tudor building in Great Marlborough Street. The building was designed by Edwin Thomas Hall and his son, Edwin Stanley Hall, at the height of the 1920s fashion for the Tudor revival, and constructed from the timbers of two 19th century men-of-war battleships. The Liberty board wanted the new building to demonstrate craft of the highest quality and attention to detail, and to reflect the Arts and Crafts values of "truth to material" which had played such an important part in the foundation of the company and the goods that it sold.
Engineered around three galleried light wells, the shop was intended to emulate the great atrium spaces of Bon Marché and Printemps in Paris, whilst also remaining true to the design of the original shop in Regent Street in the series of smaller rooms which surrounded these central wells.
A collection of furniture was made for the rooms and galleries to display the textiles, clothes and luxury goods the shop was so famous for. The finishes were either dark fumed, natural, or, as in this example, limed, reflecting the characteristic of the wood panelling in the various showrooms. All the furniture was made in the firm's workshops in Highgate and demonstrates the same levels of craftsmanship and attention to detail as the building itself.
Lorimer designed these tables in the 16th century manner, with substantial oak planked tops, either octagonal or rectangular, raised on spirally fluted legs with platform stretchers.