Furnishing Windsor Castle
Designs and furnishings for George IV's Green Drawing Room at Windsor
Centre table
c.1814-30RCIN 33461
A view of the Green Drawing Room by Joseph Nash (1809–1878) in 1848 shows that this table, and its matching pair, were used as reading tables at either end of the room. Their maker Thomas Parker (fl.1808–1830) specialised in the production of elaborate furniture of brass and tortoiseshell inlay after the style of the French ébéniste, André-Charles Boulle. English cabinet makers using this technique referred to it as 'Buhl'. Parker worked originally for George IV's sister, Princess Elizabeth (1770–1840), and latterly for George himself when Prince Regent. On his trade card he described himself as 'Cabinet & Buhl Manufacturer to HRH the Prince Regent and Royal family'.