19th Century Pair of Occasional Tables in the Louis XV Transitional Taste

Constructed in tulipwood with kingwood employed in the cross banding and inlay work alongside boxwood stringing, and dressed with gilt bronze mounts; of rectangular form, with radiused corners, rising from sabot shod cabriole legs, supporting undertiers with arcaded pierced galleries, having bronze espagnolettes at the shoulders; the aprons of serpentine form, with elliptical ‘font vert’ Sèvres style plaques applied to fascias and rears, hand painted in polychromes with bucolic scenes, and enclosed within floral cast mounts; the hinged and lockable tops, with diamond form book matched central medallions, lift to reveal velvet lined interiors, and have stiff leaf cast guard bands.
Circa 1860

An identical pair of tables previously belonged to Raine, Countess Spencer (1929-2016), the British socialite perhaps best known as Princess Diana’s stepmother.