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Lot Essay
In 1805, Robert Needham, 11th Viscount Kilmorey, was left the Mourne Park estate by William Nedham (sic), whom he had never met and to whom he may have been distantly related. Soon afterwards he built a house in the fashionable Wyatt style in place of the earlier house. In 1846, the house was described as 'a plain square building of cut stone with no very imposing pretensions to elegance or architectural beauty', but it has been extensively remodelled over the years.
The base of the table, with its use of exotic amboyna and its stylized foliate-embellished base recalls the furniture supplied by Nicholas Morel and George Seddon for the refurbishment of Windsor Castle in 1828 (for example: H. Roberts, For The King's Pleasure: The Furnishing and Decoration of George IV's Apartments at Windsor Castle, London, 2001, pl 92, fig. 83). This table is probably Irish. A scagliola top undoubtedly by the same maker and depicting a similar classical landscape with oak-leaf and pearl border, was sold from the collection of the Earl and Countess of Dunraven, Adare Manor, Ireland, Christie's house sale, 9-10 June 1982, lot 302. It had a four-pillared yew-wood base unrelated to the present lot.
The base of the table, with its use of exotic amboyna and its stylized foliate-embellished base recalls the furniture supplied by Nicholas Morel and George Seddon for the refurbishment of Windsor Castle in 1828 (for example: H. Roberts, For The King's Pleasure: The Furnishing and Decoration of George IV's Apartments at Windsor Castle, London, 2001, pl 92, fig. 83). This table is probably Irish. A scagliola top undoubtedly by the same maker and depicting a similar classical landscape with oak-leaf and pearl border, was sold from the collection of the Earl and Countess of Dunraven, Adare Manor, Ireland, Christie's house sale, 9-10 June 1982, lot 302. It had a four-pillared yew-wood base unrelated to the present lot.