Early Victorian Solid Walnut Library Table made for Gillows by John Barrow

An early Victorian solid walnut library table made for Gillows by John Barrow, the shaped rectangular top decorated in burr walnut within bold reed-and-flute edging above two disguised frieze drawers on one side, raised upon turned and knopped pillar supports on two splayed cabriole legs with deeply carved acanthus on the knees, the claw feet with sunken castors, inscribed in pencil ‘John Barrow’. English. John Barrow worked for Gillows of Lancaster from 1825 to 1850. Susan E Stuart in ‘Gillows of Lancaster and London, 1730-1840,’ Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, 2008 Vol.II pp18-19. Pls 547 and 548, illustrates a mahogany commode made for Henry Bold Houghton in 1834 by John Barrow, for which he was paid £4. 6s 8d. Later in the same volume, page 376, pl. GG27, there is a very similar walnut card table with a turning and folding top with identical reed-and-flute edging and set on legs of the same design.