拍品专文
These handsome 'Parker' mahogany sideboard-table frames, intended for marble slabs, have bacchic leopard paws terminating their truss-scrolled pilasters, and reflect the George II 'Roman' fashion popularised by William Jones', The Gentleman or Builder's Companion, 1739. They would have formed part of the furnishings introduced to Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire either by Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, (d. 1732) following his service as Lord Chancellor during the reign of George I, or his son, George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield (d. 1764) following his inheritance in 1732. They would have served for the display of the 1st Earl's celebrated silver banqueting cisterns and fountain, which were commissioned from Anthony Nelme (d. 1723) and embellished by Venus shell bas-reliefs labelling the ribbon-guilloche, that tied his leopard-supported and coronet-ensigned armorials (since the late 1990s the silver has been displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum's British Galleries).
Alternatively, the table frames may have been commissioned by the 2nd Earl to display the alabaster veneered table tops that he almost certainly brought back with him from his celebrated Grand Tour undertaken in 1720-22. The slabs were later moved onto oak frames, probably commissioned for them around 1845 by Thomas, 6th Earl of Macclesfield and sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 4 June 2009, lot 141.
Alternatively, the table frames may have been commissioned by the 2nd Earl to display the alabaster veneered table tops that he almost certainly brought back with him from his celebrated Grand Tour undertaken in 1720-22. The slabs were later moved onto oak frames, probably commissioned for them around 1845 by Thomas, 6th Earl of Macclesfield and sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 4 June 2009, lot 141.