A Dutch brown-painted table

The intricate carved decoration of this 'marriage table' consists of roses and meandering foliage, symbolising Love and Fertility, against a background of bones, scales and tendrils, which are general references to Vanitas. The execution of the carving is closely related to that on a pair of giltwood frames around the portraits of Mr Benjamin Fagel and Jacoba Graswinckel, which were executed by J. van der Stock in The Hague in 1676. The frames, which were almost certainly made by a Hague sculptor, carry the same marital symbolism as the present table.