Chippendale style gaming table. Spain, 18th century

Chippendale style gaming table. Southern Spain, 18th century.
Stained walnut.
Measurements: 75.5 x 81 x 40 cm; 75.5 x 81 x 78.5 (open).
The cabinet functions, when closed, as a console table. It has four slightly curved, claw-finished legs with prominent knees, typically Chippendale. The top opens out into a larger table with recesses for cards and chips, thus becoming a gaming table. The waist has a small drawer with a metal handle.
Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) was one of the most important decorators of Rococo London, and indeed the originator of the English style of the period. The style known as Chippendale developed from about 1750, and although it began to decline in London around 1765, it was only then that it began to spread outside the capital, and indeed it was to enjoy great development in outlying centres for the rest of the century. The Chippendale style is composed of rococo features of French origin, Gothic and Chinese elements, mixed either separately, all together or only two of them.