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Lot Essay
Micromosaics are created with many or thousands of tesserae or smalti, small pieces of coloured glass cut from oven-baked rods, and arranged to form an image. By the middle of the 18th century, technological advances permitted the realization of miniscule tesserae which, in turn, enabled artisans to create painstakingly detailed and exquisitely rendered works, hitherto unknown. During the nineteenth century the surge of tourists to Italy steadily increased and these magnificent micromosaics proved to be popular souvenirs from these Grand Tours. Two major themes in particular emerged: ancient Roman monuments and the great sixteenth-century Basilica in St. Peter's Square, as seen on this present tabletop.
The carved giltwood stand is conceived in the ‘Roman’ taste to accentuate the ‘Antique’ properties of this magnificent micromosaic table top. Its design is drawn from Charles Tatham's illustrations of actual antique Roman lion monopodiae collected during his Grand Tour and published in Etchings representing Fragments of Grecian and Roman Architectural Ornaments (1806). Related lion monopodiae supports feature on a tripod table, plate 32 of Hope’s Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807) and plate 122 of Smith’s A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808). The longevity of the fashion for supplying ‘antique’ frames to emphasise micromosaic tables is demonstrated by a stand with dolphin supports, almost certainly inspired by the drawing in Tatham’s Etchings; the mosaic top by Salvatore Darmanin with Royal coat of arms for William IV, dated 1833, (K. Hay, ‘Mosaic Marble Tables by J. Darmanin & Sons of Malta, Furniture History, vol. 46, 2010, figs. 14, 15).
Following the premature death of his first wife, Thomas Augustus Wolstenholme Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield (1811-1896), married secondly, in 1842, Lady Mary Frances Grosvenor, daughter of Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster; the latter, similarly to the Earls of Macclesfield, spent vast sums on the development of his properties, and was a notable collector. With such illustrious antecedents, it is possible that the present table was either acquired by the 6th Earl or by the Countess from her Grosvenor family.
The carved giltwood stand is conceived in the ‘Roman’ taste to accentuate the ‘Antique’ properties of this magnificent micromosaic table top. Its design is drawn from Charles Tatham's illustrations of actual antique Roman lion monopodiae collected during his Grand Tour and published in Etchings representing Fragments of Grecian and Roman Architectural Ornaments (1806). Related lion monopodiae supports feature on a tripod table, plate 32 of Hope’s Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1807) and plate 122 of Smith’s A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration (1808). The longevity of the fashion for supplying ‘antique’ frames to emphasise micromosaic tables is demonstrated by a stand with dolphin supports, almost certainly inspired by the drawing in Tatham’s Etchings; the mosaic top by Salvatore Darmanin with Royal coat of arms for William IV, dated 1833, (K. Hay, ‘Mosaic Marble Tables by J. Darmanin & Sons of Malta, Furniture History, vol. 46, 2010, figs. 14, 15).
Following the premature death of his first wife, Thomas Augustus Wolstenholme Parker, 6th Earl of Macclesfield (1811-1896), married secondly, in 1842, Lady Mary Frances Grosvenor, daughter of Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster; the latter, similarly to the Earls of Macclesfield, spent vast sums on the development of his properties, and was a notable collector. With such illustrious antecedents, it is possible that the present table was either acquired by the 6th Earl or by the Countess from her Grosvenor family.