A rare small Regency sycamore and penwork decorated games/card table

The rounded rectangular hinged swivel top painted with anthemion and flowerheads with a border of scrolling leaves and paterae enclosing a chequerboard interior with a border of oak leaves, bellflowers and acanthus, above a panelled frieze painted with Vitruvian scrolls and a faceted stylised leaf decorated shaft, on scrolling quadripartite hipped downswept legs with leaf cast capping and castors, 61cm wide, 30cm deep, 73cm high.

Penwork is a form of decoration on furniture and small items such as boxes and tea caddies, usually in reserves, carried out with fine pens or brushes in black watercolour or ink on a pale surface; colour was occasionally used. Among early terms for the technique were 'voiding', 'pen painting' or 'imitation ivory inlaying'. Sycamore, pale and close-grained, was the most usual timber, and the work was invariably protected with varnish. This has often mellowed with age, giving a black and yellow effect rather than the originally intended black and white.

While some penwork was professionally generated, particularly among the products of the early nineteenth century Tunbridge industry, most examples appear to have been the work of ladies of leisure. Most of these date from between 1815 and 1850, and standards of technique vary widely. Penwork designs fall most often into one of three categories: neoclassical, chinoiserie or floral, and these themes frequently appear in combination. See N.Riley, Neo-Classical Designs in Penwork, Furniture History 2001, p.51-66.