Lot Essay
This centre table or tea-table is boldly carved on all four sides with Venus's scallop shell badge dominating the long sides. With its elongated acanthus brackets, squared paw feet and heavily carved apron below a plain frieze, it is typical of mid-18th Century Dublin cabinet-making, where there was a thriving trade in furniture making, often with craftsmen moving between England and Ireland.
The table was amongst the furniture acquired by Sir Edward Guinness, 1st Bt. and later 1st Earl of Iveagh (d. 1927) for Elveden Hall, Thetford, Norfolk following its purchase in 1894 from the Maharajah Duleep Singh, the deposed sovereign of the Sikh nation.
The table was amongst the furniture acquired by Sir Edward Guinness, 1st Bt. and later 1st Earl of Iveagh (d. 1927) for Elveden Hall, Thetford, Norfolk following its purchase in 1894 from the Maharajah Duleep Singh, the deposed sovereign of the Sikh nation.