ATTRIBUTED TO THE ASHFORD MARBLE WORKS, CIRCA 1830-35

The table, of Ashford Black Marble work with pillar support and altar-tripod plinth, has its octagonal top richly polychromed with an inlay of a bird perched on a fruiting branch within a mosaiced 'scrapwork' ribbon-band shaped as a flower. It is further embellished with alternating jasmine sprigs and butterflies corresponding to patterns introduced in 1834 by William Adam (d.1873), who had taken over the management of the Ashford works and Old Royal Museum, Matlock for Mrs. John Mawe in 1831. The works were under the patronage of the 6th Duke of Devonshire (d.1858), who lent Adam examples of Florentine work from Chatsworth exhibiting closely related (W. Adam, Gem of the Peak, 4th ed., 1846 and J. M. Tomlinson, Derbyshire Black Marble, 1996, illustrated on the frontispiece). In 1846, William Adam received praise for introducing the 'Mosaic' or 'Florence work' whose 'scrolls, birds, flowers and foliage of the most elegant designs and perfect workmanship, equal to anything that has ever been executed in Italy' (S. Bagshaw, Gazeteer and Directory of Derbyshire).