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Lot Essay
A pair of German stools with a similar spirit of energetic Rococo carving was sold by Doña Maria Félix, Christie's New York, 17-18 July 2007, lot 256 ($180,000 including premium), the latter en suite with a larger bench (lot 255, $60,000 including premium). The tables (and Félix stools) are conceived very much in the manner of a design by Jean-Bernard Honor© Tureau, dit Toro (1661-1735), illustrated in Livre de Tables de Diverses Formes, 1716. Related carving also features on the famed pair of silvered console tables designed by François Cuvilliés in 1735-39 in the mirrored room of the Amalienburg hunting lodge in the grounds of Schloss Nymphenburg, Munich (B. Langer, Die Möbel der Schlösser Nymphenburg und Schleissheim, Munich, 2000, pp. 130-132, no. 35). Another pair of stools with related carving was sold by the Slazenger family, Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow, Christie's house sale, 24-25 September 1984, lot 444.
Ecton Hall was built for the poet and translator Ambrose Isted in 1756, probably by the pioneer Gothic Revival architect Sanderson Miller. It was conceived in the Early Gothic Revival style, also known as 'King James Gothic', and is one of the foremost examples of this style of construction in Britain. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, 1990, p. 207). According to the Sotheby Papers, the tables originally rested in the drawing-room and acquired when the room was added to the house and decorated by Ambrose Isted in 1756.
Charles William Hamilton Sotheby (d. 1887) inherited the estate in 1881 and extensions were carried out in the late 1880s and 1890s, which may explain why the tables had been extended in width. The Sothebys were a scholarly family of collectors, although not apparently linked to the book auctioneers.
Ecton Hall was built for the poet and translator Ambrose Isted in 1756, probably by the pioneer Gothic Revival architect Sanderson Miller. It was conceived in the Early Gothic Revival style, also known as 'King James Gothic', and is one of the foremost examples of this style of construction in Britain. (N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Northamptonshire, 1990, p. 207). According to the Sotheby Papers, the tables originally rested in the drawing-room and acquired when the room was added to the house and decorated by Ambrose Isted in 1756.
Charles William Hamilton Sotheby (d. 1887) inherited the estate in 1881 and extensions were carried out in the late 1880s and 1890s, which may explain why the tables had been extended in width. The Sothebys were a scholarly family of collectors, although not apparently linked to the book auctioneers.