The central medallion of the Roman mosaic marble top derives from the Capitoline Museum's celebrated Hadrianic marble mosaic, that was discovered in 1737 and identified as a work of Sosus recorded by the Roman author Pliny 'The Elder' in his Naturalis historia. The wonderful mosaic specimen was described as: 'A dove drinking, and darkening the water with the shadow of her head; on the lip of the vessel are other doves pluming themselves'.

The pattern, popularly known as 'Pliny's Doves', is wreathed by a golden band of inlaid shells or 'fruits of the sea', within a pearled and beaded band of coloured marbles and an outer rim that is reed-gadrooned. The marble, displaying Venus's doves, is supported on a Grecian-black frame that is wreathed by Venus-shell badges emerging from Roman acanthus. Its pillar and 'altar' tripod are enriched with Grecian palms and Roman acanthus in the Louis Quatorze 'antique' fashion popularised by C. & G. King's Modern Style of Cabinet Work Exemplified, 1829.

This table was presumably acquired by Mark Gilby at the time of the Brighton Pavilion's annual Regency Exhibition in 1952, although it is not in the printed catalogue. Many dealers contributed to these loan exhibitions, held from 1948 until circa 1956, alongside furniture and objects from public collections, as well as from the Pavilion itself.