A RARE GEORGE I JAPANNED TRIANGULAR GAMES TABLE...

A RARE GEORGE I JAPANNED TRIANGULAR GAMES TABLE c.1720 the Chinese black lacquer tilt-top gilt decorated with watery scenes of pagodas, bridges and willow trees, centred with the arms of the Tower family of Weald Hall, inscribed with the motto 'Love and dread', with floral diaper borders and three divided counter wells, on an English ebonised baluster stem and tripod cabriole legs and pad feet, with three paper depository labels for the Tower family 72.5cm high, 111.5cm wide, 97.8cm deep PROVENANCE A Private Collection. LITERATURE Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, vol.III, p.198, fig.20. CATALOGUE NOTE The Tower Family of Weald Hall is descended from Thomas Tower of Wryesdale who died in 1659. His son Christopher went to London and prospered as a merchant, eventually becoming Deputy Collector of Customs for the Port of London. He died in 1728 leaving two sons, Christopher and Thomas. Christopher Tower (16941771) was a Whig politician and an MP between 17271742, with his family seat at Huntsmoor Park, near Iver in Buckinghamshire. His brother, Thomas (16981778), was a lawyer and an MP who got elected to Parliament for Wareham in 1729 and bought Weald Hall in 1759. There are no written records to say who commissioned this rare triangular card table but it was probably Thomas before he acquired Weald Hall, sometime in the 1720s. The unusual triangular table top was made for the three player trick-taking card game Ombre or 'hombre', which originated in Spain in the 16th century but its popularity swept through Europe at the end of the 17th century and into the 18th century. Ombre was the first card game in which a trump suit was established by bidding rather than by the random process of turning the first card of the stock which gives this game its historical importance in the field of playing cards. Although little played today, Ombre has been described as "the most successful card game ever invented"