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Lot Essay
The console pattern may have been invented by Lord Burlington's protegé, the artist architect William Kent (d. 1748), who provided Roman eagles in his illustrations to Alexander Pope's 1725 translation of Homer's Odyssey. The Edinburgh cabinet-maker Francis Brodie featured a related eagle table on his tradesheet, published in 1739 (F. Bamford, Dictionary of Edinburgh Furniture-Makers, Leeds, 1983, pl. 24a). Tables with a secure 18th century provenance are rare, but a notable example is a pair of eagle console tables, originally at Glemham Hall, Suffolk and probably supplied to Dudley North about 1725. The latter pair of tables was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 12 November 1998, lot 80.
These console tables are closely modelled on a pair dated 1731 supplied by John Phillips to the 3rd Duke of Beaufort at a cost of £40, and illustrated in A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, 2009, fig. 5:55.
John Phillips is recorded in May 1725 at 'the corner of St Paul's Chain in St Paul's Churchyard', trading at the sign of 'The Cabinet'. John Phillips worked at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, the country seat of the Dukes of Beaufort, between 1728-33, and received £444 9s 6d for furniture that included two frames 'richly carv'd & Guilt in Burnish'd Gold' (G. Beard, C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986, p. 695).
These console tables are closely modelled on a pair dated 1731 supplied by John Phillips to the 3rd Duke of Beaufort at a cost of £40, and illustrated in A. Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740, 2009, fig. 5:55.
John Phillips is recorded in May 1725 at 'the corner of St Paul's Chain in St Paul's Churchyard', trading at the sign of 'The Cabinet'. John Phillips worked at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, the country seat of the Dukes of Beaufort, between 1728-33, and received £444 9s 6d for furniture that included two frames 'richly carv'd & Guilt in Burnish'd Gold' (G. Beard, C. Gilbert, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers 1660-1840, 1986, p. 695).