Inlaid Mahogany "Zodiac" Drum Table by Jas Shoolbred

A fine quality Edwardian Mahogany Inlaid 'Zodiac' Drum Table by Jas Shoolbred of London. The circular revolving top having interwoven trailing leaves and harebells around the 12 signs of the Zodiac. Bordered by inlaid stringing in ebony and boxwood and satinwood banding. The edges with boxwood outline stringing. Four mahogany lined drawers below with original solid brass handles and inlaid with harebell swags and central oval flower heads. All flanked by panels with inlaid scrolled foliage and flowers with round central etched panels. The drawers are lockable (key supplied) and one bears the makers stamp and batch number. The top held by a peg to the turned and octagonal facetted strung column on quadruped splay legs having harebell inlays with outline stringing and satinwood banding. Urn inlaid panels between the legs. All on brass square cap castors. Offered for sale in excellent condition, with a warm colour and rich patina, ready to go straight into the home.

Dimensions:

Diameter 75cms

Height 66cms

James Shoolbred & Co

The name of James Shoolbred & Co is highly respected among admirers of Aesthetic Movement furniture. Their antique desks, Victorian dining chairs and antique marquetry furniture were produced for wealthy households up to 1931. A particularly fine example of James Shoolbred antique marquetry furniture – an ornate piano by designer Henry Batley – is on display at the V & A museum, London.

Established in the 1820s, James Shoolbred’s Tottenham Court Road company began life as a drapers. It began supplying textiles to the furniture trade, and expanded into the stores either side, branching into interior design. By the 1870s, the company was designing and manufacturing its own furniture.

A major factor of James Shoolbred’s success was their detailed catalogues, which were published from around 1873. Configured to showcase the company’s designs beyond the confines of London, they made Shoolbred an overnight success.

In the 1880s the firm moved to larger premises. Imaginatively laid out, with detailed room schemes showing off the company’s latest furniture and textile designs, it became an unmitigated success.

Although James Shoolbred & Co specialised in furniture of the Aesthetic Movement they encompassed all the fashionable trends of the time, from the motifs and patterns of Japanese design in their antique marquetry furniture, to Art Nouveau and gothic influences in their antique desks and Victorian dining chairs.