.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The table’s boldly classical design can be readily compared to the two iconic tables supplied under Robert Adam’s direction in 1765 to Sir Lawrence Dundas for his London home at 19 Arlington Street. The Dundas interiors were recognized then, as they are now, as one of the most celebrated commissions of their day. One of the tables was most recently sold The Exceptional Sale, Christie’s, London, 5 July 2012, lot 17, while the companion table, presently in a distinguished private collection, is illustrated in P. Macquoid and R. Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1927, vol. III, p. 270, fig. 51. The makers of the Dundas tables were John Bradburn in partnership with William France, who had worked under Vile and Cobb. However, Adam orchestrated projects with many of the prominent makers of his day including Thomas Chippendale, Mayhew and Ince, and Samuel Norman. Many of these makers worked to his designs so in the absence of documentation, attributions can be difficult. Chippendale, in fact, supplied a comparable table with radiating marquetry top to Edwin Lascelles at Harewood House, Yorkshire circa 1770 to his own design, despite Adam's involvement with the house (C. Gilbert, The Life and Work of Thomas Chippendale, London, 1978, vol. II, pl. 476-77 and 486).
Curly-headed ram masks with similar profiles feature regularly in Adam-designed furniture including the seat furniture supplied to Dundas for Moor Park in 1764 (James Lawson, maker), a mahogany basin stand for Croome Court in 1769 (Mayhew and Ince, makers), and a pair of giltwood pedestals for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn at 20 St. James’s Square (see E. Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, New Haven, 2007, pp. 169, 48 and 264, respectively). Other leading architects, including James 'Atheneum' Stuart, also worked in a similar 'antique' fashion.
Scagliola (from the Italian 'scaglia' or chips imitating marble or hardstone) is a technique that brilliantly promotes the colorful palette and pictorial language of Adam's classically-inspired interiors, and was used liberally by him from as early as 1766 (Harris, pl. 9). The Italian-born inlayer Dominic Bartoli, and his partner John Augustus Richter, worked almost exclusively for Adam producing table tops and chimneys in an Italianate style; these tops corresponded to Adam’s template of a centralized fan and radiating designs (D. Cameron, 'Scagliola Inlay work: the problems of attribution', Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies, Irish Georgian Society, 2004, vol. VII). The drawing room tables supplied to Northumberland House (and since removed to Syon) feature similar ribbon-tied portrait medallions (Harris, p. 101, fig. 150). The present top has been suggested to be of Italian manufacture, and possibly 19th century in date, but it was certainly made to sit on the present table frame. Its Italian workmanship is interesting in light of the fact that Adam was duly impressed with such specialty work when visiting Florence in 1760. The top's singularly blue palette suggests an imitation of Wedgwood pottery, a conscientious choice that Adam made for the decorated furniture supplied to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, one of Wedgwood’s great early patrons (Harris, p. 15). The top employs a full range of classical motifs which recur in many Adam interiors, a language that unified the architecture of a room to that of its furnishings.
Curly-headed ram masks with similar profiles feature regularly in Adam-designed furniture including the seat furniture supplied to Dundas for Moor Park in 1764 (James Lawson, maker), a mahogany basin stand for Croome Court in 1769 (Mayhew and Ince, makers), and a pair of giltwood pedestals for Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn at 20 St. James’s Square (see E. Harris, The Genius of Robert Adam, New Haven, 2007, pp. 169, 48 and 264, respectively). Other leading architects, including James 'Atheneum' Stuart, also worked in a similar 'antique' fashion.
Scagliola (from the Italian 'scaglia' or chips imitating marble or hardstone) is a technique that brilliantly promotes the colorful palette and pictorial language of Adam's classically-inspired interiors, and was used liberally by him from as early as 1766 (Harris, pl. 9). The Italian-born inlayer Dominic Bartoli, and his partner John Augustus Richter, worked almost exclusively for Adam producing table tops and chimneys in an Italianate style; these tops corresponded to Adam’s template of a centralized fan and radiating designs (D. Cameron, 'Scagliola Inlay work: the problems of attribution', Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies, Irish Georgian Society, 2004, vol. VII). The drawing room tables supplied to Northumberland House (and since removed to Syon) feature similar ribbon-tied portrait medallions (Harris, p. 101, fig. 150). The present top has been suggested to be of Italian manufacture, and possibly 19th century in date, but it was certainly made to sit on the present table frame. Its Italian workmanship is interesting in light of the fact that Adam was duly impressed with such specialty work when visiting Florence in 1760. The top's singularly blue palette suggests an imitation of Wedgwood pottery, a conscientious choice that Adam made for the decorated furniture supplied to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, one of Wedgwood’s great early patrons (Harris, p. 15). The top employs a full range of classical motifs which recur in many Adam interiors, a language that unified the architecture of a room to that of its furnishings.