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Lot Essay
The table, conceived in Louis Quatorze Roman fashion as part of a set with accompanying candle stands and mirror, displays a top with a rich mosaic of polychromed floral marquetry in ebony or ebonised compartments. Such tables survive in quite large numbers but the present example is remarkable for retaining its original legs and feet, so often rotted or worm-damaged. The floral marquetry panels were often combined with oyster veneers and may have been bought in from specialist `marqueteurs'.
A similar pattern of table with spiral and baluster-turned legs from Beningborough Hall, North Yorkshire, is illustrated in A. Bowett, English Furniture 1660-1714, Woodbridge, 2002, p.116, fig. 4.23, and another similar with marquetry and oyster-veneers was supplied in 1684 for Levens Hall and described by the Ludgate Hill cabinet-maker Thomas Pistor (father or son) as part of a set of 'Large wall[nit] flowerd Looking glass & Table and stands flowered' (ibid. p.116, fig. 4.19). A similar table formerly in the collection of Michael, 2nd Baron Croft (1916-1997) at Croft Castle, Herefordshire, was sold by his Executors, Sotheby's, London, 6 June 2002, lot 48 and again Christie's, London, 22 January 2009, lot 98 (£13,750 including premium).
A similar pattern of table with spiral and baluster-turned legs from Beningborough Hall, North Yorkshire, is illustrated in A. Bowett, English Furniture 1660-1714, Woodbridge, 2002, p.116, fig. 4.23, and another similar with marquetry and oyster-veneers was supplied in 1684 for Levens Hall and described by the Ludgate Hill cabinet-maker Thomas Pistor (father or son) as part of a set of 'Large wall[nit] flowerd Looking glass & Table and stands flowered' (ibid. p.116, fig. 4.19). A similar table formerly in the collection of Michael, 2nd Baron Croft (1916-1997) at Croft Castle, Herefordshire, was sold by his Executors, Sotheby's, London, 6 June 2002, lot 48 and again Christie's, London, 22 January 2009, lot 98 (£13,750 including premium).