Thomas Moore
Head of Department
Lot 65TP
An Italian early 19th century 'Grand Tour' specimen marble and hardstone table top on a George IV mahogany and parcel gilt console table the specimen marble top circa 1810, the console table circa 1825
18 December 2020, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £12,750 inc. premium
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An Italian early 19th century 'Grand Tour' specimen marble and hardstone table top on a George IV mahogany and parcel gilt console table
the specimen marble top circa 1810, the console table circa 1825
The rectangular marble top inset with a grid of one hundred and thirty six squares each inlaid with a different marble or hardstone including malachite, breche violet, alabastro, porphyry, lapis lazuli, Sicilian jasper, Spanish brocatello, onyx, portor and verde antico, on two acanthus clasped and C-scroll carved lion bust-headed front monopodia terminating in paw feet, with panelled rear stiles, on a concave plinth base, 134cm wide x 67cm deep x 90cm high, (52 1/2in wide x 26in deep x 35in high)
The rectangular marble top inset with a grid of one hundred and thirty six squares each inlaid with a different marble or hardstone including malachite, breche violet, alabastro, porphyry, lapis lazuli, Sicilian jasper, Spanish brocatello, onyx, portor and verde antico, on two acanthus clasped and C-scroll carved lion bust-headed front monopodia terminating in paw feet, with panelled rear stiles, on a concave plinth base, 134cm wide x 67cm deep x 90cm high, (52 1/2in wide x 26in deep x 35in high)
Footnotes
A comparable specimen marble and pietra dura table top to the offered lot, which was dated late 18th/early 19th century, sold Christie's, New York, 17th October 2003, Important English Furniture, lot 21.
This type of specimen marble table top is characteristic of the taste for Italian slabs, often collected by British gentlemen whilst undertaking their 'Grand Tour' of Europe. In the eighteenth century, Palladian architects were influenced by the Italian fashion for marble topped pier tables. Many of these items were ordered by English collectors and returned to their homeland where they had the bases made for these highly prized tops.
One of these patrons of the Italian workshops was the connoisseur Patrick Home (d.1808) of Wedderburn Castle and Paxton House, Scotland, who appears to have purchased a quantity of high quality tops in around 1771 in the first year of his Grand Tour. A similar marble table top, inset on a stand made by the Edinburgh cabinet-maker William Trotter, is illustrated in F. Bamford, A Dictionary of Edinburgh Furniture Makers, 1660-1840, Furniture History Society, 1983, pl. 55A. A further related example is believed to have been acquired by Edward, Viscount Lascelles (d.1814) for Harewood House, Yorkshire and subsequently sold, The Humphrey Whitbread Collection, Christie's London, 5 April 2001, lot 412.
