Pair of Sheraton Demi-lune Tables

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Pair of Sheraton Demi-lune Tables

About the Item

This extraordinary pair of demi-lune, or half-moon, side tables is exactly the kind of furniture to which Thomas Sheraton devoted his career. The surfaces of these tables are beautifully detailed with walnut and satinwood marquetry, inlaid with a floral geometric design and radial veneered semi-circle executed with the greatest precision and craftsmanship. Each is set upon elegant, foliate carved giltwood legs. Sheraton believed that furniture should only be created to be fashionable, but it should be designed with more permanent scientific and geometrical principles in mind in order to impart a more lasting quality. This superb pair of tables is a fine example of the principles set forth by this incredible designer. Circa 1780 38” wide x 18” deep x 31” high Thomas Sheraton was born in 1751 in Stockton-on-Tees, England, and though very little is known of his early life, it has been deduced that his was a poor upbringing. He moved to London in 1790 where he supported a wife and two children. For a man whose name is synonymous with the finest furniture of the late 18th-century, he did not support his family as a cabinetmaker. Though he is often credited with introducing the "Sheraton" style of furniture, Thomas Sheraton only worked as a cabinetmaker for a very short time. Though he was well versed in the techniques of cabinetmaking and may have even been trained as such, Sheraton devoted most of his time to the innovation of furniture design and, after 1793, indicated his profession as a teacher of perspective, architecture and cabinetmaking. For the most part, he was a designer of furniture and it was his immensely popular pattern book, The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book (1791) that influenced an entire generation of English cabinetmaking. Even with that in mind, Sheraton's primary source of income came from his writings on various subjects, his favorites being furniture design and theology. He spent quite a bit of time, in fact, traveling as a Baptist preacher. Sheraton would continue to write two more important books on furniture design, The Cabinet Directory (1803) and a second and third addition of the Drawing Book (1794 and 1802). Unlike his contemporaries, Chippendale and Hepplewhite, who were practical craftsmen, Thomas Sheraton was more a man of ideas, a visionary of how furniture styles should evolve. These more scholarly pursuits, however, left him in poverty later in life, while those who had a better head for business would go on to profit from his designs. Today, Thomas Sheraton is considered among the greatest furniture designers in history and his influence over the past 200 years has been far reaching. References: The Sheraton Director, The Furniture Designs of Thomas Sheraton, 1990, J. Munro Bell Sheraton Furniture, 1962, Ralph Fastnedge Discovering Antiques, "The Sheraton Style," 1973, Lindsay Boynton

Dimensions:
Height: 31 in (78.74 cm)Width: 38 in (96.52 cm)Depth: 18 in (45.72 cm)
Sold As:
Set of 2
Style:
Sheraton (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Giltwood,Satinwood,Walnut
Place of Origin:
England
Period:
18th Century and Earlier
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1780
Condition:
Seller Location:
New Orleans, LA
Reference Number:
Seller: 28-91751stDibs: LU89111014804