MID-19TH CENTURY, THE PIETRE DURE FLORENTINE, 17TH/18TH CENTURY, THE TOP POSSIBLY INCORPORATING EARLIER MARQUETRY

This 'Boulle' marquetry table was formerly in the collection of Alfred de Rothschild (d.1918) where it was listed and illustrated in an 1884 inventory comprising in the latter's words 'those which... I most prize' at his London property, Seamore Place, and his country seat, Halton House, Buckinghamshire, a magnificent Renaissance-style chateau (C. Davis, A Description of the Works of Art forming the Collection of Alfred de Rothschild, 1884, preface and vol. II, no. III). In the preface Alfred noted that the 'principal objects' were 'inherited from my dearly beloved father' (Lionel de Rothschild, d.1879). Although unspecified, the elegant intarsia work in the French taste suggests it was in situ at Halton, completed in July 1883, officially opened 15 January 1884, with interiors and furnishings in what became known as 'Le Style Rothschild', that is 18th century French furniture of boulle, ebony, and ormolu complemented by Old Master paintings and fine porcelain. Alfred was, in addition to being an important art collector, an extravagant host; Halton was used primarily as a party house in which he entertained his guests on a lavish scale. When Alfred died without issue, the table possibly passed to his great nephew, Edmund, through his father, Lionel Walter (d.1937), who inherited much of his uncle's estate. It was latterly in the collection of a Miss Davidson, almost certainly a member of the same Davidson family who worked as agents for the Rothschilds in the 19th century.

This table is an intriguing amalgamation of styles that as furniture historians Anna Maria Massinelli and Alvar González-Palacios propose make it very difficult to ascertain origin and dating. The name of the Parisian ébéniste, André-Charles Boulle (d.1732) is synonymous with the practice of veneering furniture with marquetry of tortoiseshell, pewter, and brass, and in the 1884 inventory the table was described as 'Louis XIV Boule' (Massinelli, no. 21). However, 'the style and combination of the types of inlay' of the present table comprising pietre dure, mother-of-pearl, brass and gilt brass on a tortoiseshell ground is 'common in German mosaic tables of the first half of the 17th century', in particular the oeuvre of the cabinet maker, Johann Georg Esser (d.1727) (op.cit.). Certainly, French style embodied in the craftsmanship of André-Charles Boulle was influential in hardstone decoration. By the end of the 17th century there were two important German centres for the production of Boulle-style furniture, Kunwelhau and Augsburg; in Kunwelhau, H.D. Sommer, a former pupil of Boulle, had a furniture workshop from 1666-1684, while in Augsburg, Esser specialised in this kind of inlay work. A closely related table signed by Esser and dated 1780 is in the Residenz Museum, Munich.

The frieze of the Gilbert tabletop with mother-of-pearl masks and ducks emerging between bands of brass foliage is related, albeit in a more modest form, to that of the frieze on the outside edge of the Munich table, which displays similar scrollwork, grotesque masks, mother-of-pearl putti and ducks appearing through garlands of acanthus leaves. Furthermore, the style of the landscape background found on the pietre dure bird panels on the frieze around the Gilbert tabletop also appears on the Esser table in Munich and on one or two unmounted panels in the Liechtenstein collection that have been tentatively attributed to the Prague workshops of the early 17th century. This lavish fashion spread to the Gobelins workshop in France and similar panels are found on two French tabletops dated 1684-1700 in the Palais de Compiègne. Although conversely, the shape of the Gilbert tabletop belongs to the early 18th century, its construction, together with the tapering and fluted legs and shaped stretcher decorated with pietre dure and coloured marble insertions and ormolu mounts, suggest a mid-19th century date.

The Gilbert table compares closely to a table sold from a German private collection, Christie's London, 23 February 2006, lot 2, for £26,400. They share the same distinctive style of metallic intarsia work coupled with the use of hardstone embellishments. They also, importantly, share identical female/dragon corner mounts and the same sabots. On the basis of its construction and finish this table was also dated to the 19th century. The clear similarities between these tables raise the possibility of a German workshop making tables in 'the style of Esser' during the 19th century.
Further pieces in the Gilbert Collection formerly owned by Alfred de Rothschild include a pair of console tables known to have been at Halton Hall. One is with a Florentine pietre dure top (Massinelli, cat. no. 46.) and, the other, with a micromosaic top (J. Hanisee Gabriel, The Gilbert Collection - Micromosaics, London, 2000, no. 3, pp. 53-54).