We’ve had a very interesting find recently regarding this center table from the Octagon, of the Garden Pavilion, Buckingham Palace, London.

The table, which appears to be the work of the celebrated firm of royal decorators George Morant and Sons, is of giltwood with the striking decorative form of three female monopodia joined by their outstretched wings which support the circular table top. Scrolling acanthine carving supports the body of each figure, running into the muscular form of the single zoomorphic upright terminating in a powerful claw foot, standing on a shaped triform base with concave sides. The table was illustrated in Ludwig Grüner’s The Decorations of the Garden Pavillion in the Grounds of Buckingham Palace, 1846 (below).

The decorative motifs of the table are taken from ancient Greek and Roman prototypes, including the grotesque female figures, claw foot monopod, acanthus leaves, the egg and  dart molding of the tabletop and waterleaf and tongue molding of the plinth. Earlier this week we discovered a drawing of a Greek basin from the Farnese museum with striking similarities to our table in Recueil des monumens les plus intéressans du Musée Royal-Bourbon et de plusieurs autres collections particulières (1845) by Raffaele Gargiulo. In this piece, three winged female monopodia with acanthine decoration support a basin, with similar moldings to the rim and triform base. While the separate decorative elements have well-known origins in antiquity, it was very exciting to see them all come together in the rendering of an ancient object- and one with such similarities in design to a piece of are own!

Of gilt brass. The corona cast with lotus leaves above a canopy of acanthus leaves, the body, suspended on five supports, each with acanthine decoration, the five foliate arms, each arm terminating in a foliate drip-pan and nozzle, the whole centered by five oil reservoirs, each in the form of a Grecian urn, the whole terminating below in a lotus leaf final.

Of silver-plated tin. The circular corona issuing stylized foliate fronds above a moulded band surmounting the pierced spreading body composed of roundels, facing C-scrolls, flowerheads and S scrolls and acanthus leaves, the body centred by a stylized pierced undulating frieze issuing eight drip-pans raised on shaped brackets, the frieze above a shaped drum similarly composed with shaped S-scrolls and acanthine fronds terminating in an inverted finial.

Of gilt and white painted limewood. Each with candleholder and drip pan supported by carved acanthus leaves above a fluted tapering column centred by a bulb carved with stiff leaf decoration, the whole resing on a two tier base, the upper tier white painted with a carved gilt swag, the lower tier gilt and reeded.

Of patinated bronze and alabaster. The six arms, each shaped as a pair of facing cobras, their bodies intertwined around a bronze ring and supporting an alabaster shade, the snakes curving upwards towards the centre and terminating into stylised acanthus leaves of dark green patinated bronze.