The table, which measures 11ft 2in (3.4m) in length and 4ft 5in (1.35m) in depth, was part of a 64-lot consignment from the Château de Cornillon in France, entered by the major Haute Epoque collector Frederic Champavère and offered as a separately catalogued opener to the auctioneers' main mixed-owner sale on October 31.
Sotheby's specialist Patrick van der Vorst told ATG that he knew this was a particularly good example, larger in size and with a more complex stretcher than the version he sold three years ago for £110,000. Even so, he had not expected it to make so much.
No fewer than four bidders contested the table to £200,000 after which it was a battle to the finish between two collectors with the hammer falling to a European private buyer bidding on the phone.
By Anne Crane
French Gothic ascends to the top table
IT was the Gothic furniture that was in strongest demand at Sotheby’s Haute Epoque sale in Bond Street last week, none more so than this massive 16th/17th oak refectory table that was bid to an astonishing £420,000 (plus premium).