A rare Chinese export padouk, ivory & ebony inlaid sofa table, circa 1810, of freestanding form, fitted with three frieze drawers to the front with camphor linings, original ivory knob handles and brass locks, with matching dummy drawer frieze to the reverse, on swept legs to original brass paw cast feet and castors, in good condition with a good colour.
Crossman (Carl L.) ‘The Decorative Arts of the China Trade: Paintings, furnishings and exotic curiosities’, Antique Collectors’ Club, 1991, p. 234, ‘The sofa table form, with drop leaves on either side and with or without a movable top for gaming or a gaming drawer, is known in several China trade as well as Indian and Indonesian examples. An immensely practical form, which could also be used as a writing or work surface, a tea or small dining table, the sofa table undoubtedly had great popularity in the colonies of the Far East’.
