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Lot Essay
The richly carved mahogany side table with portor marble top is conceived in the George II 'antique' or Roman manner promoted by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (d.1753) possibly after designs for pier tables published in William Jones' The Gentleman or Builder's Companion, 1739, in particular pls. 27 and 29. Jones worked in the style of Burlington's protegé, the Rome-trained artist, architect and illustrator, William Kent (d.1748), and was undoubtedly inspired by Kent's drawing for a table dated 1731 at Houghton Hall, Norfolk (illustrated in John Vardy, Some Designs of Inigo Jones and William Kent, 1744, pl. 41).
This table belongs to a small group of similarly conceived marble-topped 'slab tables', each distinguished by the use of exceptionally fine mahogany, crisply carved, with the same distinctive apron centred by a cartouche. Of these, the pair originally at Langley Park, Norfolk, are the most distinguished; these were supplied in the 1740s for the dining-room window-piers. This Palladian villa of the early 1740s was built for George Proctor (d.1744) on his return from Venice. He employed Matthew Brettingham (d.1769), although the furnishing of the house was eventually completed by Proctor's nephew, Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 1st Bt. (d.1773). The tables are illustrated in situ in O. Brackett, 'Langley Park', Country Life, 2 July 1927, p.18, fig.4. The present lot compares with the Langley Park tables in sharing the egg-and-dart mouldings above a fretwork frieze, and hairy paw and ball feet, the latter a particular feature of Jones' table designs. The Langley Park tables were sold by Sir Christopher Proctor-Beauchamp, Bt., Christie's, London, 6 July 1995, lot 100 (£452,500 including premium).
The black and gold veined portor marble originates from quarries in Italy and Corsica, and also locally in France, the name 'portor' undoubtedly deriving from the town of Porto Venere on the Genoese coast where Louis XIV exploited quarries for the decoration of Versailles. The marble was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries for furniture, decorative art and chimneypieces, and notably featured on a side table at Longleat, Wiltshire, which was probably supplied around 1735, sold Christie's, London, 'Furniture, Silver and Porcelain from Longleat', 13 June 2002, lot 337 (£92,450 including premium). A George II mahogany and portor marble side table from Crichel, Dorset sold Christie's, London, 23 May 2012, lot 230 (£241,250 including premium).
This table belongs to a small group of similarly conceived marble-topped 'slab tables', each distinguished by the use of exceptionally fine mahogany, crisply carved, with the same distinctive apron centred by a cartouche. Of these, the pair originally at Langley Park, Norfolk, are the most distinguished; these were supplied in the 1740s for the dining-room window-piers. This Palladian villa of the early 1740s was built for George Proctor (d.1744) on his return from Venice. He employed Matthew Brettingham (d.1769), although the furnishing of the house was eventually completed by Proctor's nephew, Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 1st Bt. (d.1773). The tables are illustrated in situ in O. Brackett, 'Langley Park', Country Life, 2 July 1927, p.18, fig.4. The present lot compares with the Langley Park tables in sharing the egg-and-dart mouldings above a fretwork frieze, and hairy paw and ball feet, the latter a particular feature of Jones' table designs. The Langley Park tables were sold by Sir Christopher Proctor-Beauchamp, Bt., Christie's, London, 6 July 1995, lot 100 (£452,500 including premium).
The black and gold veined portor marble originates from quarries in Italy and Corsica, and also locally in France, the name 'portor' undoubtedly deriving from the town of Porto Venere on the Genoese coast where Louis XIV exploited quarries for the decoration of Versailles. The marble was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries for furniture, decorative art and chimneypieces, and notably featured on a side table at Longleat, Wiltshire, which was probably supplied around 1735, sold Christie's, London, 'Furniture, Silver and Porcelain from Longleat', 13 June 2002, lot 337 (£92,450 including premium). A George II mahogany and portor marble side table from Crichel, Dorset sold Christie's, London, 23 May 2012, lot 230 (£241,250 including premium).