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Design firmly attributed to E W Godwin. Made by Collinson & Lock.
Stamped with their in house design number to the underside '8142'.
An exceptional Anglo Japanese rosewood table, stylistically ahead of its time.
The upper and lower edges with tram line details above a pair of opposite Japanese fretwork friezes, on four bowed legs cut from solid rosewood, united by a lower shelf stepped down in the centre, (reminiscent of Godwin's most famous tea table with three hinged side leafs also incorporating a stepped shelf that he designed 1872, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, page 146, fig 211). He used stepped designs on the lower shelves of all of his famous Anglo-Japanese sideboards of the 1870s (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, pages 176, 177, 178, 179 181, 182 and 183). The stepped details are made using dove tail joints throughout with a fine Japanese fretwork under tier.
This table shows inspiration from both Japanese and Chinese designs, Chinese hardwood furniture played a crucial role in Godwin’s Anglo Japanese designs and he is known to have owned Chinese furniture as well as Chinese accessories (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, page 44-48) The bowed legs are very reminiscent of two designs from tables in a sketchbook from 1876 and 1881 (Elizabeth Aslin, E.W.Godwin page 79) and again on a design for three cabinets in circa 1878 and circa 1885 (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, pages 218 and 236). The complicated fretwork is reminiscent of a design for a sofa by Collinson and Lock (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, page 109) a table in 1873-1875 (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, pages 157) and an armchair the design attributed to Godwin for James Peddle in 1881 (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, pages 132). The reeded detail is identical to a chair design in William Watts Art Furniture Catalogue circa 1885 (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, pages 266) a chair attributed to Godwin circa 1875 (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, page 137) and a couch attributed to Godwin and made by Collinson and Lock circa 1872-1875 (Susan Soros, Secular Furniture, page 106).
Collinson and Lock of London 'Art Furnishers', founded with the partnership of F.G. Collinson and G.J. Lock, former employees of Jackson and Graham. Designers employed by the firm included T.E. Collcutt, the architect of their premises; E.W. Godwin, who was paid a retainer to produce exclusive designs for the company from 1872-1874, H.W. Batley and Stephen Webb. They made furniture for the new Law Courts to designs by G.E. Street, along with Gillows and Holland and Sons, and began decoration of the Savoy Theatre in 1881. Jackson and Graham was taken over in 1885, at the time when the firm had moved to Oxford Street and begun to focus on expensive commissions for grandiose London houses. The firm was taken over by Gillows in 1897. The firm of Collinson and Lock was established in London in the third quarter of the 19th century and quickly achieved both commercial success and a leading position in the field of design. In 1871 the firm issued an impressive illustrated catalogue of 'Artistic furniture', with plates by J. Moyar Smith, assistant to Christopher Dresser, and in 1873 was trading from extensive newly built premises in St Bride Street. The firm continued to produce very high quality items of furniture and soon began to experiment with new materials and designs, becoming especially renowned for their distinctive combinations of rosewood and ivory and their intricate Italianate arabesques, traditional figures and scrolling foliage. This form of decoration clearly points toward the involvement of Stephen Webb, Collinson and Locks chief designer who was later appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal College of Art.
E.W.Godwin was their most important designer and so advanced were his designs in the Japanese style.
