Fine Regency Period Tilt Top Centre / Breakfast Table - Attributed to William Trotter of Edinburgh c.1815

Fine Regency Period Tilt Top Centre or Breakfast Table, Attributed to William Trotter of Edinburgh c.1815 The table with a top diameter of five feet. The circular top with a tilting mechanism to allow it to be stored flat against a wall if required and veneered in highly figured bookmatched rosewood surrounded by an edge moulding. The top supported on a tapering column with stepped or collared base moulding and a tripartite platform base with contrasting parcel gilt highlights. The table stands on three bold lions’ paw and scrolled feet with parcel gilt highlights to the scroll. We attribute the present table to the fine Edinburgh maker William Trotter on the basis of its similarities to a table supplied by Trotter to the New Club in Edinburgh and which remained at the club until the 1960s before passing to the Fine Art Society and being sold at Christie’s in 1990 and, more recently, Lyon and Turnbull on the 25th of June 2003, lot 384. The table shares the stepped column, very similar feet and a very similar choice of rosewood veneers. The tripartite platforms on both tables have a subtle edge moulding to the top, and the slim frieze underneath the table tops is a common feature as well. Although there were many fine makers in England and Scotland during this period that would have been capable of supplying the present table, the combination of all of these factors, and the quality of construction, suggests that Trotter is certainly amongst the leading candidates for its manufacture.