EARLY 19TH CENTURY, IN THE MANNER OF HENRY HOLLAND

This table reflects the influence of Henry Holland, whose designs- aided by the drawings made by his pupil Charles Heathcote Tatham in Rome - achieved a masterly synthesis of Late Luis XVI and Graeco-roman styles. With its distinctive reeded pedestal, it relates to the table supplied for the Library at Woburn (illustrated in R. Edwards, 'Patrons of Taste and sensibility', Apollo, 1965, pl.14). Related centre tables were also supplied to Samuel Whitbread for Southill Park, Bedfordshire. These latter tables are thought to be amongst the furniture supplied by Messrs. William Marsh and Thomas Tatham. While Holland was also architect at Southill and is traditionally thought to have been involved in the design of the furniture at Southill, the firm's employment of Charles Heathcote Tatham, Thomas's brother, from 1788 would suggest that the architect/designer and author of Etchings representing Fragments of Grecian and Roman Architectural Ornaments (1806) may have actively participated in the design (see G. Jackson-Stops, 'Southill Park', Country Life, 28 April 1994, fig.11).
Marsh and Tatham were part of a group of craftsmen who worked with Henry Holland and Dominique Daguerre at both Woburn, Southill and the Prince of Wales at Carlton House (The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, Leeds, 1986, pp.623-624). The firm is variously listed in late eighteenth and early nineteenth century bills and directories reflecting their partnerships with George Elward, Edward Bailey and Richard Saunders, under which partnerships they are recorded working for the Royal family from 1783 through 1820.