Henry VIII carved oak counter table

Rare high quality Henry VIII carved oak (counter / merchant's) table, the twin plank top above a twin parchemin carved panel front, the sides with similar single carved panels. The rear with a central Gothic tracery section dividing two open recesses. Early inventories tell us that counters were both 'great' and 'little' and that they were also double counters, at which two people could sit opposite each other and cast their accounts. This table is illustrated in The Connoisseur, January 1952 and quotes: an unusually large example of counter table. Provenance: Nyetimber manor