Lot Essay
This table appears to derive from the celebrated 'Tomb of Agrippa' sarcophagus with its bacchic panther feet and plinth, as combined with a scroll-ended Roman 'altar' table in the architect Charles Percier's design for a table illustrated in his Receuil de Décorations Intérieures, 1812, pl.XV. Its frieze tablets with involuted scrolls terminating in Grecian palmettes are likely to have been inspired by that accompanying an engraving 'emblematic of architecture' in the Receuils, op. cit., pl.V.
Thomas Hope (d.1831) reinterpreted his friend Percier's table design in his house in Duchess Street, as illustrated in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, pl.12 and also promoted the use of French ebony-inlaid decoration in the 'Etruscan' manner. Thomas Ackermann illustrated a related bench version in his Repository of the Arts in 1813. (Illustrated in C. Musgrave, Regency Furniture, 1800 to 1830, London 1961, pl.1).
A related table with vine-tendril frieze and shaped plinth was sold from the collection of the late Wilfred Evill, Esq., in these Rooms, 12 July 1963, lot 110
Thomas Hope (d.1831) reinterpreted his friend Percier's table design in his house in Duchess Street, as illustrated in his Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, pl.12 and also promoted the use of French ebony-inlaid decoration in the 'Etruscan' manner. Thomas Ackermann illustrated a related bench version in his Repository of the Arts in 1813. (Illustrated in C. Musgrave, Regency Furniture, 1800 to 1830, London 1961, pl.1).
A related table with vine-tendril frieze and shaped plinth was sold from the collection of the late Wilfred Evill, Esq., in these Rooms, 12 July 1963, lot 110