The right frieze drawer has the printed bill head of the cabinetmaker, upholsterer and appraiser, Richard Goodman [active 1807-1822] which reads as follows:“London / 181(0 in pencil) / To Richard Goodman, / Manufacturer / OF / Fashionable & Useful Cabinet Furniture. / 62 SUN STREET, / Bishopsgate. / Solid Cabinet Work for Exportation / made suitable to / any Climate / Bedsteads, / Bedding & / Upholstery, of every / Description”.
Bond is said to have placed the table in his former Perth executive suites under a portrait of Cook by John Webber.
Until recently it was thought that the Resolution was captured by the French, after which there is no record. However, in a little known discovery the Australian National Maritime Museum now claims that the Resolution lies on the sea bottom at Newport, Rhode Island, New York, close to the Endeavour, Cook’s first ship.
Salvage efforts are currently under way.
Offered by Goodmans of Sydney, Australia on April 28, the table, 2ft 5in x 4ft 11in x 2ft 2in (73.5 x 1.5m x 66cm), has an estimate of A$200,000-$250,000.
This latest offering with Cook connections follows the success last month of a walking stick said to have been made from a native’s spear that killed Captain Cook, which sold at Lyon and Turnbull in Edinburgh for £135,000.
Another recent sale of a Cook associated item was at Christie’s Melbourne on April 8 when a tiny porcelain cup and saucer painted with scenes of Cook’s expedition on HMS Resolution to the South Pole, made six times the estimate.
Library table that’s a good read itself
Coming up in SYDNEY: THIS table once graced the office of swashbuckling multi-millionaire Australian businessman Alan Bond, but its Australian connections go far deeper. English, and c.1810 it is a library table in the Greek Revival taste inlaid with English oak from HMS Resolution, Captain Cook’s final ship, and with ivory panels inscribed – Part of HMS Resolution – Sacred to the Memory of Captn. Cook – Deriving worth from Cook’s illustrious name – This ship shall live in rolls of endless fame.
