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Lot Essay
A related 'dolphin' centre table with gilded base and in very much the same 'Louis Quatorze' taste was bought by George Granville, 2nd Duke of Sutherland from Edward Holmes Baldock in 1837. It was probably intended for Stafford (now Lancaster) House, St. James's, London. The table, with a remarkably similar moulded edge to its top, is seen in an 1895 photograph of the State Drawing Room taken by Bedford Lemère. The table's base would have been acquired to harmonise with the corner-side tables that were supplied for the same room by George Jackson & Son in 1842 (J. York, Lancaster House, London, 2001, p. 49, pl. 31 & p. 147, pl. 96). Another 'dolphin' centre table, with an 'octagon compartment' top is at Wilton House, Wiltshire (S. Morris, 'Echoes of Arcadia', The Antique Collector, May 1995, p. 55).
Philip John Miles (1773-1845), scion of the wealthy Miles banking family of Bristol of which he was Senior Partner from 1794-1832, built Leigh Court, Bristol in 1811, designed by Thomas Hopper. Miles's enormous wealth allowed him to indulge his passion for Old Masters and furniture in the French Grecian or 'Louis Quatorze' taste. He was drawn to the many 'celebrity' sales of the first half of the nineteeth century and was a buyer at legendary sales such as the 1822 Wanstead sale; William Beckford's Fonthill sale in 1823 (when he purchased Empress Josephine's magnificent centre table from Malmaison); and George Watson-Taylor's sale at Erlestoke Park, Wiltshire, in 1832. Whilst the table corresponds to Miles's taste in furniture, it could equally have been acquired by George Byng directly for Wrotham or St James's Square.
Philip John Miles (1773-1845), scion of the wealthy Miles banking family of Bristol of which he was Senior Partner from 1794-1832, built Leigh Court, Bristol in 1811, designed by Thomas Hopper. Miles's enormous wealth allowed him to indulge his passion for Old Masters and furniture in the French Grecian or 'Louis Quatorze' taste. He was drawn to the many 'celebrity' sales of the first half of the nineteeth century and was a buyer at legendary sales such as the 1822 Wanstead sale; William Beckford's Fonthill sale in 1823 (when he purchased Empress Josephine's magnificent centre table from Malmaison); and George Watson-Taylor's sale at Erlestoke Park, Wiltshire, in 1832. Whilst the table corresponds to Miles's taste in furniture, it could equally have been acquired by George Byng directly for Wrotham or St James's Square.