Pollard oak and ebony inlaid library table, the rectangular top having inset green tooled leather within repeated bead ebony inlaid border, flanked by rectangular hinged stepped covered compartments, the narrow inverted frieze with central kneehole, having foliate inlaid spandrels with acorn finials, each pedestal with recessed panelled doors (with locks and key), two enclosing four drawers, one enclosing a cupboard space and the other with shelves, raised on plinth bases.

In total, six other tables of this form are known, three in mahogany and three in oak. The first to appear on the market, from the collection of the Earls of Granville, was a mahogany version with Paul Coutts in 1983; the second, in mahogany, was with Carlton Hobbs in 1984; the third, in oak, was with Blairman in 1988 (sold later from the collection of Edouard Sarofim, Christie’s (London) 16 November 1995, lot 117, and a mahogany example was offered by Christie’s (London), 7 July 1994, lot 155. More recently an oak version from the James Sterling Collection was with Blairman in 2025 and in the same year another oak version was sold from Bridehead Manor and is now in a private collection in the USA.

In 1816, Bullock invoiced the British Government for Napoleon’s use on St Helena: ‘A Mahogany Library Table inlaid with Ebony with Cupboards at each end for portfolio’s [sic] and drawers’, at a cost of £69. 5s. (see Martin Levy, ‘Napoleon in Exile. The Houses and Furniture supplied by the British Government for the Emperor and his Entourage on St Helena’, Furniture History, XXXIV (1998), p. 110. The plan of the ‘Library’, from the Lowe Papers (British Library, Add. MS. 20,222, f. 220) is reproduced in Levy, fig. 8. When an inventory was taken following Napoleon’s death in 1821, ‘1 large Mahogany Library Table’ was recorded in his ‘sitting room’ (see Levy, p.152). Sir Hudson Lowe, Governor of St Helena may have claimed this table when he returned to the United Kingdom, but its present location is unknown (see Levy, pp. 63-68).

George Bullock’s work is best understood through a group of designs known as ‘The Wilkinson Tracings’. This collection of designs on tracing paper, assembled in an album with additional loose inserts and inscribed on the first page – ‘Tracings by Thomas Wilkinson from designs of the late Mr. George Bullock, 1820’ – are housed in Birmingham Museums Trust’s collection (1974M3.98) Design for wardrobe, table and stools shows a desk design with the same foliate inlaid spandrel with acorn finials and with decorative circular beads.

George Bullock (1777/78-1818): was an influential early nineteenth century cabinet maker, sculptor and marble-mason who had a remarkable career during his short life. He was trained by his mother, who exhibited wax models at 29, Bull Street, Birmingham between 1794 and 1798 and, in 1797, ‘Mrs Bullock and Son’ offered modelling and drawing lessons at their premises. Bullock worked in wax, rice-paste and plaster, and developed a reputation as a noteworthy artist. George’s brother, William Bullock, was a Museum Promoter in Church Street and had a notable career as an entrepreneur and showman, opening his first ‘museum’ at Portugal House in Birmingham in 1800, where he exhibited a variety of curiosities. He moved his museum to Liverpool in March 1801, and George followed his brother there, lodging at the premises at 24, Lord Street.

In 1804, George Bullock was working in Liverpool: ‘Bullock, George, Modeller and Sculptor, Lord Street’ (‘Gore’s Directory for Liverpool and its Environs’, Liverpool, 1804) where he attracted a number of important patrons for his sculptural work, which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. By 1805 Bullock had entered into a partnership with a looking-glass maker called William Stoakes, advertising as: ‘Bullock & Stoakes Cabinet Makers, General Furnishers and Marble Workers 48 Church Street’ (‘Gore’s Directory for Liverpool and its Environs’, Liverpool, 1805). Their showrooms were named the ‘Grecian Rooms’, and were housed: ‘at Mr Stokes Looking Glass Manufactory … this day re-opened where are the most extensive collection of Bronze and Bronzed Figures … Marble Tables, Chimney Pieces … see the Rich Gothic Furniture, Armour &c which he has designed and executed for … Cholmondeley Castle’ (Liverpool Chronicle, 4 September 1805). This is the first furniture known to have been designed and made by Bullock. He was renowned for the speed at which he produced furniture and for the quality of his work, especially his marquetry.

In 1806, Bullock moved to 23 Bold Street and, in 1807, announced that he had dissolved his partnership with Stoakes. In c.1806 he acquired the Mona marble quarries at Llanvechell, Anglesey for a lease of £1000, which contained two beds of marble, one resembling: ‘in colour and effect oriental porphyry and the other verd antique’ (‘Repository of Arts’, 1815, p.278). In April 1809, Bullock wrote to James Watt Senior: ‘my business has so far exceeded my calculations that I have found great difficulty in supplying it... I have now called in the aid and assistance of a clever man, Mr Joseph Gandy, Architect, whose professional abilities and system of business, will enable me to conduct and accomplish everything I wish in my undertaking…’ (‘George Bullock: Cabinet-maker’ (John Murray, H. Blairman & Sons, London, 1988), p.14). The partnership was called: ‘Bullock, George & Joseph Gandy, architects, modellers, sculptors, marble masons, cabinet makers and upholsterers 55 Church Street’ (‘Gore’s Directory for Liverpool and its Environs’, Liverpool, 1810). Clive Wainwright describes Gandy as: ‘a rather impractical and eccentric man’ (Clive Wainwright, ‘George Bullock and his Circle’ in ‘George Bullock: Cabinet-maker’ (John Murray, H. Blairman & Sons, London, 1988), p.14) and the firm did not prosper. Following the end of his partnership with Gandy in 1810, Bullock transferred his business to London between 1812 and 1814, holding sales of his stock, collections and premises. He again followed in his brother’s footsteps, as William had left Liverpool in 1810 to open a new museum – ‘Egyptian Hall’ – in Piccadilly.

In 1813, he was first listed in London: ‘Bullock, George, upholsterers, Grecian Rooms, Egyptian Hall Piccadilly’ (‘Post Office Annual Directory London’, 1813) but then moved his premises and, by 1815, he was established as: ‘Sculptor, 4 Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, Mona Marble and Furniture Works, Oxford Street’ (‘Post Office Annual Directory London’, 1815). Bullock’s work was classically-inspired, but also incorporated Gothic, Elizabethan and Jacobean elements. He pioneered the use of native materials in his furniture, using local larch wood at Blair Castle and Drumlanrig oak at Abbotsford. This use of native materials and designs gained Bullock a reputation as a patriot, with one commentator describing him as: ‘in every respect, an Englishman, and ambitious of his country’s reputation’ (‘Annals of the Fine Arts’, VIII, 1819, p.321-2 quoted in ‘George Bullock: Cabinet-maker’, p.20). He stayed at these premises until his death in 1818.

In Bullock’s short career he undertook a number of major furnishing commissions, which included Tew Park in Oxfordshire (at a cost of £4000); Blair Castle; Cholmondeley Castle; Battle Abbey in East Sussex; and his clients included Sir Walter Scott and the manufacturer Matthew Boulton.