This brass-inlaid mahogany tripod tea table is attributed to the German cabinet-maker Frederick Hintz (d. 1772) who worked at the sign of 'The Porcupine' in Newport Street, Leicester Fields, London. The table is one of a small though distinct group of similarly shaped and inlaid tables which have between 8 and 12 'lobes' and which are particularly associated with a community of émigré craftsmen resident in London. A number of these tables featured in the 1993 exhibition, John Channon and brass-inlaid furniture 1730-1760 at the Victoria & Albert Museum alongside other related pieces.

FREDERICK HINTZ

Hintz was born in 1711 in Settin, a town in former East Germany. By 1737 he was living in London and as a member of the Moravian Church, a protestant religious movement that grew in Germany and England during the mid-18th century comprising communities of craftsmen, he worked under the auspices of the church. He is known as a maker of stringed musical instruments and, records show that in 1748 he made a harpsichord for the Moravian Chapel in Fetter Lane. He was also, as recorded in a 1738 advertisement discovered by the furniture historian, R.W.Symonds, a maker of 'Desks and Book-Cases of mahogany, Tea-Tables, Tea-Chests, and Tea-Boards etc. all curiously made and inlaid with fine figures of brass and mother of pearl'. At the same time other German cabinet-makers working in London included Abraham Roentgen with whom Hintz appears to have had a close professional relationship (they travelled to Germany together in June 1738) and the lesser-known maker, Gern.

Although labelled musical instruments exist, until 2004 no documented furniture by Hintz was recorded and attributions were based on stylistic analysis. However, research using the Moravian Church archives has revealed a bill to Charles Henry de Larisch for work completed by a John Frederick Hintz, dated 23 August 1753, detailing '2 mah. Card Tables, 6 mah. Chairs, 2 great Arm Chairs, 2 Great Looking Glasses' (Lanie E. Graf, 'Moravians in London: A case study in furniture-making, c.1735-1765, Furniture History, 2004, p. 15). Other tables that can be attributed to Hintz are in the Victoria & Albert Museum, museum (no. W.3-1965), and another formerly in the collection of the Duchess of Roxburghe, illustrated in Ralph Edwards, Dictionary of English Furniture, vol. III, p. 207, fig. 15.

A closely related table from a collection assembled under the guidance of the furniture historian R.W Symonds (which also included the celebrated Ashburnham lacquer commodes) was sold anonymously Christie's, London, 16 November 1995, lot 61 (£67,500 including premium). Another was sold anonymously Christie's, London, 3 November 2011, lot 67 (£79,250 including premium) and another from the collection of Mr. & Mrs. Jack Steinberg (also formed by Symonds) was sold Christie's, London, 19 May 2016, lot 8 (£50,000 including premium).

In the 20th century the table passed through the hands of two highly distinguished collectors. Sir Alfred Chester Beatty amassed extraordinary collections covering manuscripts from east and west, Orientalist art and 19th century paintings, and was a generous partner to the British Museum in particular. In 1950 he relocated from London to Dublin where he established the eponymous library for the display of his collection. Walter P. Chrysler Jr., like Beatty, started collecting at a young age but in 1931 he embarked on a European grand tour meeting many seminal artists of the avant garde, Picasso, Braque, Gris, Matisse and others, acquiring works along the way. He also collected American artists, art nouveau and American art glass and was an early supporter of, and chairman at New York's Museum of Modern Art.