As well as the acquisition of paintings, the collection of rare marbles formed an important part of the Grand Tour in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Small work-tables and games-tables introduced to the Regency drawing-rooms or living-rooms encouraged a fashion for such mosaic slabs of rare and colourful marbles in the early 19th Century. One such 'occasional' table-top, with central chessboard, was purchased for 69, while Peter Langford-Brooke was in Rome in 1829 and taken to his house at Mere, Cheshire (sold from Mere Hall, Knutsford, Cheshire, Christie's house sale, 23 May 1994, lot 84).
The Latin inscription 'Turpe est in patria vivere et patriam ignorare' ('It is unseemly to live in a country and not to know the country'), is an appropriate sentiment for a Grand Tourist.