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Lot Essay
This superb ‘Aesthetic Movement’ writing table has an illustrious provenance. It was almost certainly designed by one of the most significant design theorists of the Victorian period, Owen Jones (1809-1874), whose principles on colour theory and ornamental work for flat surfaces still influence contemporary designers today. Jones worked primarily with Jackson & Graham, one of the foremost London cabinet-makers, known for the quality of their craftsmanship, who regularly exhibited at the great international exhibitions from 1851 to 1878. Together they executed one of the most significant commissions of Victorian England, 16 Carlton House Terrace, London for scholar and antiquarian Alfred Morrison (1821-1897), of which the present table is almost certainly a part.
Described as: ‘the most potent apostle of colour that architectural England has had in these days’, in 1863 Owen Jones published his seminal work, The Grammar of Ornament, which served as a master sourcebook for design motifs inspired by world cultures and ancient civilizations. In later part of his career, and favouring the ‘Mauresque’-style inspired by the Alhambra Palace in Granada, he created interiors for private individuals, most notably Carlton House Terrace. The commission for Morrison at Carlton House Terrace was by far Jones’ most important and complete set of lavish interiors in which ceilings, wall panelling, mantelpieces, carpets and furniture in each room were in perfect harmony, made of the same woods and to a particular design scheme inspired by the Orient and recent Pompeian archeological discoveries, as seen in the decoration of the present lot. While little of Morrison’s personal archive survives today, the renown of these interiors in the late 19th century was such that they were regularly discussed in the contemporary press and books. This table embodies the sentiment expressed by the Magazine of Art that Jones’ designs for furniture comprised beautiful forms adorned with symmetrical and geometrical decoration (‘Treasure-Houses of Art - I’, Magazine of Art, vol. II, 1879, p. 140). The London International Exhibition of 1874 included an exhibition of ‘Works by the Late Owen Jones’, which included many loans from Morrison; two entries might possibly describe this table: no. 81, ‘Table, in Inlaid Woods’ , and no. 85, a ‘Writing table, in Inlaid Woods’.
Described as: ‘the most potent apostle of colour that architectural England has had in these days’, in 1863 Owen Jones published his seminal work, The Grammar of Ornament, which served as a master sourcebook for design motifs inspired by world cultures and ancient civilizations. In later part of his career, and favouring the ‘Mauresque’-style inspired by the Alhambra Palace in Granada, he created interiors for private individuals, most notably Carlton House Terrace. The commission for Morrison at Carlton House Terrace was by far Jones’ most important and complete set of lavish interiors in which ceilings, wall panelling, mantelpieces, carpets and furniture in each room were in perfect harmony, made of the same woods and to a particular design scheme inspired by the Orient and recent Pompeian archeological discoveries, as seen in the decoration of the present lot. While little of Morrison’s personal archive survives today, the renown of these interiors in the late 19th century was such that they were regularly discussed in the contemporary press and books. This table embodies the sentiment expressed by the Magazine of Art that Jones’ designs for furniture comprised beautiful forms adorned with symmetrical and geometrical decoration (‘Treasure-Houses of Art - I’, Magazine of Art, vol. II, 1879, p. 140). The London International Exhibition of 1874 included an exhibition of ‘Works by the Late Owen Jones’, which included many loans from Morrison; two entries might possibly describe this table: no. 81, ‘Table, in Inlaid Woods’ , and no. 85, a ‘Writing table, in Inlaid Woods’.