SALISBURY, UK —Elaborate, fantastical and exquisitely carved, the Lambert table, an important Elizabeth I oak table, was the top lot of Woolley & Wallis’ March 10-11 Paul Fitzsimmons: A Life in Oak auction. The sale presented more than 700 lots drawn from one of the most distinctive and intellectually rigorous collections of early furniture and sculpture formed in recent decades. This circa 1575-1600 table was highlighted by its unique leg designs, each carved with an upright sphinx with a human face and griffin wings, seated above a recumbent lion. Additional details included a highly-detailed frieze apron and long draw-leaf top (approximately 13 feet fully extended). Almost certainly commissioned by John Lambert (1522-1593), of Calton-in-Craven, Yorkshire, UK, and with additional provenance to Sir Archibald Edmonstone (1867-1954), Fifth Baronet of Duntreath, Strathblane, near Glasgow; Sam Wolsey of 71 Buckingham Gate, London; Arthur Davidson, London, circa 1972; and the Bartlett Burnap collection, Florida, US. After much spirited bidding, the table sold to a UK-based private bidder for £126,200 ($167,638), including buyer’s premium (£100/150,000). Further highlights from the Fitzsimmons collection will run in an upcoming issue.
