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Lot Essay
This finely executed ‘Roman’ pier table with its boldly carved concave stretchers and paw feet was formerly in the collection of Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury (1801-93) at Moor Park, Hertfordshire where it was photographed in 1910 (Historic England, BB81/1439). Lord Ebury, the third son of Robert Grosvenor, 2nd Earl Grosvenor, later 1st Marquess of Westminster (1767-1845), inherited Moor Park from his father, who purchased the mansion in 1828. Now a Palladian mansion, Moor Park underwent a number of architectural and interior transformations from its Baroque origins; rebuilt in 1720-8 by Sir James Thornhill, and thereafter remodeled by such notable architects as Matthew Brettingham for Lord Anson in 1751-4, Robert Adam for Sir Lawrence Dundas (c. 1710-1781), ‘the Nabob of the North’, between 1763-65, Robert Cundy II for Lord Ebury’s father, the 1st Marquess of Westminster, and in 1849, the Edinburgh-born architect, William Burn for Lord Ebury.
In 1910, this table was in the Dining Room, one of the state rooms of the mansion, which had been part of the Adam refurbishment, and still retains the spectacular ceiling painting of sea gods by Cipriani dated 1769. It is conceivable the table was supplied at the same time for Lord Dundas either for Moor Park or another Dundas seat; other furniture of the mid-1760s sold with Moor Park on three occasions including a suite of giltwood seat-furniture, designed by Adam, and made by James Lawson for the Banqueting Hall in 1764 (a pair of giltwood armchairs from this set sold Christie’s, London, 13 November 1997, lot 50, and later, Christie’s London, 18 June 2008, lot 9, £265,250 inc. premium). Much of the Dundas furniture was purchased by Lord Leverhulme in 1919 when he acquired the mansion. However, the ‘Moor Park chairs’ cited above remained with the Grosvenor family (offered by the 3rd Baron Ebury at Christie's on 12 February 1942, lot 94 but not sold). A pair of Adam carved giltwood atheniennes bearing a similar storage label for ‘Archer, Crowley & Co., / Depository, / [Park End Street] OXFORD, / No. ...", with "125" entered in red ink; below, stamped in black ink, "Lord Ebur[y]’ is also believed to have come from Moor Park, likewise probably supplied to Lord Dundas, sold at auction in Louisiana in October 2007. However, to date, the present table cannot be identified in any furniture sales of Ebury, Grosvenor or Leverhulme property.
A pair of pier tables, executed to an Adam design (in the Soane Museum, London, vo.. 20:25), and supplied by William France Senior (d. 1773) and John Bradburn (d. 1781), to Lord Dundas for 19 Arlington Street, London is related (the pair sold ‘The Property of the Most Honourable the Marquess of Zetland’, Christie’s, London, 26 April 1934, lot 77, and later one table sold Christie’s, London, 5 July 2012, lot 17; the design and one of the tables illustrated A. Coleridge, ‘Some Rococo Cabinet-Makers and Sir Lawrence Dundas’, Apollo, September 1967, vol. 86, p. 214, figs. 1 and 2). France and Bradburn also executed furniture for Moor Park for Lord Dundas; the first account signed by both craftsmen is dated 13 July, 1764, and totaled £990 12s 11½d. (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660 - 1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 96).
While the designer and maker of this table cannot be firmly attributed, it belongs to a distinct group described as ‘a synthesis of ancient, French rococo, neoclassical, and English Palladian sources’ (ed. S. Weber Soros, James “Athenian” Stuart 1713-1788, New Haven and London, 2006, p. 440, fig. 10-41). This table derives from antiquity, with a Palladian form inspired by the designs of William Kent, floral rococo swags and a wide range of neo-classical carved decoration including fluted supports, and gadroon, triglyph and egg and dart bandings, and acanthus leaves. Other similar furniture includes a demi-lune table with scagliola top, and very similar concave stretchers, attributed to Adam, at Syon House, Middlesex, seat of the Dukes of Northumberland, and a pier table of the same period by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart originally in the Music Room, Spencer House, London, now at Althorp, Northampton (E. Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, New Haven and London, 2001, p. 81, fig. 120; Soros, op. cit.).
In 1910, this table was in the Dining Room, one of the state rooms of the mansion, which had been part of the Adam refurbishment, and still retains the spectacular ceiling painting of sea gods by Cipriani dated 1769. It is conceivable the table was supplied at the same time for Lord Dundas either for Moor Park or another Dundas seat; other furniture of the mid-1760s sold with Moor Park on three occasions including a suite of giltwood seat-furniture, designed by Adam, and made by James Lawson for the Banqueting Hall in 1764 (a pair of giltwood armchairs from this set sold Christie’s, London, 13 November 1997, lot 50, and later, Christie’s London, 18 June 2008, lot 9, £265,250 inc. premium). Much of the Dundas furniture was purchased by Lord Leverhulme in 1919 when he acquired the mansion. However, the ‘Moor Park chairs’ cited above remained with the Grosvenor family (offered by the 3rd Baron Ebury at Christie's on 12 February 1942, lot 94 but not sold). A pair of Adam carved giltwood atheniennes bearing a similar storage label for ‘Archer, Crowley & Co., / Depository, / [Park End Street] OXFORD, / No. ...", with "125" entered in red ink; below, stamped in black ink, "Lord Ebur[y]’ is also believed to have come from Moor Park, likewise probably supplied to Lord Dundas, sold at auction in Louisiana in October 2007. However, to date, the present table cannot be identified in any furniture sales of Ebury, Grosvenor or Leverhulme property.
A pair of pier tables, executed to an Adam design (in the Soane Museum, London, vo.. 20:25), and supplied by William France Senior (d. 1773) and John Bradburn (d. 1781), to Lord Dundas for 19 Arlington Street, London is related (the pair sold ‘The Property of the Most Honourable the Marquess of Zetland’, Christie’s, London, 26 April 1934, lot 77, and later one table sold Christie’s, London, 5 July 2012, lot 17; the design and one of the tables illustrated A. Coleridge, ‘Some Rococo Cabinet-Makers and Sir Lawrence Dundas’, Apollo, September 1967, vol. 86, p. 214, figs. 1 and 2). France and Bradburn also executed furniture for Moor Park for Lord Dundas; the first account signed by both craftsmen is dated 13 July, 1764, and totaled £990 12s 11½d. (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660 - 1840, Leeds, 1986, p. 96).
While the designer and maker of this table cannot be firmly attributed, it belongs to a distinct group described as ‘a synthesis of ancient, French rococo, neoclassical, and English Palladian sources’ (ed. S. Weber Soros, James “Athenian” Stuart 1713-1788, New Haven and London, 2006, p. 440, fig. 10-41). This table derives from antiquity, with a Palladian form inspired by the designs of William Kent, floral rococo swags and a wide range of neo-classical carved decoration including fluted supports, and gadroon, triglyph and egg and dart bandings, and acanthus leaves. Other similar furniture includes a demi-lune table with scagliola top, and very similar concave stretchers, attributed to Adam, at Syon House, Middlesex, seat of the Dukes of Northumberland, and a pier table of the same period by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart originally in the Music Room, Spencer House, London, now at Althorp, Northampton (E. Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, New Haven and London, 2001, p. 81, fig. 120; Soros, op. cit.).