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Lot Essay
These 'Jupiter' eagle console tables, appropriate for a 'Roman' banqueting hall, recall Ovid's Metamorphoses of the history of the shepherd Ganymede who was born aloft by an eagle to serve as Jupiter's cup-bearer at the banquet of the Gods. The pattern may have been invented by Lord Burlington's protégé, the artist architect William Kent (d. 1748) who provided Roman eagles in his illustrations to Alexander Pope's 1725 translation of Homer's Odyssey. The Edinburgh cabinet-maker Francis Brodie featured a related eagle table on his tradesheet, published in 1739 (F. Bamford, Dictionary of Edinburgh Furniture-Makers, Leeds, 1983, pl. 24a). Tables with a secure 18th century provenance are rare, but a notable example is a pair of eagle console tables, originally at Glemham Hall, Suffolk and probably supplied to Dudley North about 1725 following his remodelling of his recently purchased house. The latter pair of tables was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 12 November 1998, lot 80. Another related single eagle console table was sold by the late Sir John Gooch, 12th Bt., Benacre Hall, Suffolk, Sotheby's house sale, 9-11 May 2000, lot 163.
Kirby Hall was one of the earliest Palladian houses in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was built from the late 1740s for Stephen Thompson by an architectural collaboration of Lord Burlington and Roger Morris. The interior was apparently finished by Carr of York (H. Colvin, The Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 3rd ed., London, 1995, p. 151). The house was demolished circa 1920.
Kirby Hall was one of the earliest Palladian houses in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was built from the late 1740s for Stephen Thompson by an architectural collaboration of Lord Burlington and Roger Morris. The interior was apparently finished by Carr of York (H. Colvin, The Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 3rd ed., London, 1995, p. 151). The house was demolished circa 1920.