Lot Essay
The naive Bacchic lion mask and swagged floral garlands supporting eagles are all typical of mid-18th century Irish tables. A mahogany side table, formerly in the collection of Lord Forteviot and now in the Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri, U.S.A. also has an apron centred by a lion-mask and garlands held in place by flowerheads (inv. no. 827:40). Little eagles, facing backwards, appear amoung the acanthus scrolls and flowers on a mahogany side table at Beaulieu, Co. Louth (illustrated in H. Montgomery-Massingberd & C. Simon Sykes, Great Houses of Ireland, London, 1999, p. 85).