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Lot Essay
The auction in 1961 included a pair of tables of this size and a single larger (84 in. wide, 44 in. deep) table of the same model. They were reputedly bought to South Africa in the 1920s by Sir Abe Bailey (b. 1864), a leading South African political figure in the early 20th Century. His son by his first marriage was briefly married to Winston Churchill's daughter.
His second wife Mary, the vendor in 1961, was the daughter of Lord Rossmore and it is tempting to speculate that she had inherited these tables. It is a surprising survival if Sir Abe bought the suite of three tables together since most comparable groups would have been divided when initially sold. An inheritance of the three together would be more plausible although there is no evidence either way.
The combination of the entwined C monogram with a marquess's coronet is extremely rare. Marquessates were very rare in 18th Century England and then were always the subsidiary title to a Dukedom. One piece of furniture that may be from the same family as this table is a magnificent mid-18th Century secretaire-bookcase applied with large giltwood coronets and entwined C monograms. This cabinet was sold at Christie's New York, 19 April 1991, lot 295 ($660,000) and it was suggested at the time that it had been supplied to a Marquess of Carnarvon, the only mid-18th century marquess whose name begins with the letter C. Against this theory is the combination of the monogram and a marquess's coronet. The Marquess of Carnarvon was also Duke of Chandos and he would surely have used the grander coronet. One possible source of enquiry is the recent identification of Wright and Elwick of Wakefield as 'The Wentworth Cabinet-Maker' (see Christie's catalogue, 'Wentworth', 8 July 1998). The secretaire-cabinet sold in New York shares its exotic design, timber and handles with several pieces sold in the Wentworth sale and it would probably now be attributed to the firm. If it is by them, it is likely that it is from a house in Yorkshire, or at least the north of England.
This pier-table frame, with hollowed frieze framed by a reed gadrooned moulding, is embellished at the corners with lion-masks emerging from a water-scalloped cartouche, while the serpentined and acanthus-wrapped legs terminate in lion-paws emerging from volutes. Its design relates to a frame 'enriched after the French manner' published in Batty Langley's Treasury of Designs, 1745, pl. CLV. The rare leg ornament, with paws breaking through, featured on the frames of marble-topped tables executed in the 1730s for the Arlington Street house of John, 1st Viscount Tyrconnel (d. 1754) and attributed to Benjamin Goodison (d. 1767) (see: F. Russell, et al., 'Patronage Preserved', Exhibition Catalogue, Christie's London, no. 26). This table is further enriched, in the Louis XIV fashion popularised by the 1712 Oeuvres of Daniel Marot (d. 1752), with a richly-carved and fretted apron. Its scrolled ribbon mosaic of acanthus-wrapped trellis is centred by a palm-wrapped medallion displaying a cypher and coronet.
His second wife Mary, the vendor in 1961, was the daughter of Lord Rossmore and it is tempting to speculate that she had inherited these tables. It is a surprising survival if Sir Abe bought the suite of three tables together since most comparable groups would have been divided when initially sold. An inheritance of the three together would be more plausible although there is no evidence either way.
The combination of the entwined C monogram with a marquess's coronet is extremely rare. Marquessates were very rare in 18th Century England and then were always the subsidiary title to a Dukedom. One piece of furniture that may be from the same family as this table is a magnificent mid-18th Century secretaire-bookcase applied with large giltwood coronets and entwined C monograms. This cabinet was sold at Christie's New York, 19 April 1991, lot 295 ($660,000) and it was suggested at the time that it had been supplied to a Marquess of Carnarvon, the only mid-18th century marquess whose name begins with the letter C. Against this theory is the combination of the monogram and a marquess's coronet. The Marquess of Carnarvon was also Duke of Chandos and he would surely have used the grander coronet. One possible source of enquiry is the recent identification of Wright and Elwick of Wakefield as 'The Wentworth Cabinet-Maker' (see Christie's catalogue, 'Wentworth', 8 July 1998). The secretaire-cabinet sold in New York shares its exotic design, timber and handles with several pieces sold in the Wentworth sale and it would probably now be attributed to the firm. If it is by them, it is likely that it is from a house in Yorkshire, or at least the north of England.
This pier-table frame, with hollowed frieze framed by a reed gadrooned moulding, is embellished at the corners with lion-masks emerging from a water-scalloped cartouche, while the serpentined and acanthus-wrapped legs terminate in lion-paws emerging from volutes. Its design relates to a frame 'enriched after the French manner' published in Batty Langley's Treasury of Designs, 1745, pl. CLV. The rare leg ornament, with paws breaking through, featured on the frames of marble-topped tables executed in the 1730s for the Arlington Street house of John, 1st Viscount Tyrconnel (d. 1754) and attributed to Benjamin Goodison (d. 1767) (see: F. Russell, et al., 'Patronage Preserved', Exhibition Catalogue, Christie's London, no. 26). This table is further enriched, in the Louis XIV fashion popularised by the 1712 Oeuvres of Daniel Marot (d. 1752), with a richly-carved and fretted apron. Its scrolled ribbon mosaic of acanthus-wrapped trellis is centred by a palm-wrapped medallion displaying a cypher and coronet.