Lot Essay
This table is an extraordinary English combination using an 18th century Italian circular table-top with one border of pietra paesina and an extremely rare chessboard with agate squares. The crossed palms of the frame's spandrels and its ground of exotic timber, suggest that it was made by Wright and Elwick of Wakefield who made so much furniture for the house. The crossed palms relate to those on lot 64 (pair of bedside tables) and lot 65 (a commode). For more details of the firm's work at Wentworth Woodhouse, see the introduction to lot 33 in this catalogue. As a combination of three different elements, although the top and its border may be contemporary with each other, this table is exceptionally rare.
An 18th Century Sicilian top with several of the same stones and made in the Real Laboratorio delle Pietre Dure in Naples is illustrated in G. Borghini, Marmi Antichi, 1992, p. 108, fig. 4.
An 18th Century Sicilian top with several of the same stones and made in the Real Laboratorio delle Pietre Dure in Naples is illustrated in G. Borghini, Marmi Antichi, 1992, p. 108, fig. 4.