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Possibly Brazilian School. First half of the eighteenth century. Oil on canvas.

Height: 41″ (104 cm); Width: 32 1/2″ (81.5 cm). 9897 The painting belongs to a small, but increasingly examined, body of works in which black subjects are depicted in all manner of roles, from subservient to scholarly. While the representation of blacks following intellectual pursuits is rare, it is not unheard of, as seen in the portrait Francis Williams, the Negro Scholar of Jamaica circa 1740, in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The son of wealthy former slaves, Williams enjoyed a European lifestyle and the opportunity to pursue poetry and mathematics. In his portrait, Williams is depicted in his study with the Jamaican city of Spanish Town in the distance. While the subject of the present painting also appears to enjoy some level of luxury, the context is more ambiguous. Although the figure of this black artist appears to be wearing a dress, it is likely to be a male figure. As the scholar Sheldon Cheek explains, the artist wears an earring and a silver collar, both common articles worn by black male servants/slaves in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries, the collar traditionally indicating slave status. Women rarely, if ever, wore the silver collar. The artist also appears to be wearing a silver “shackle” on the arm. An argument in favor of the slave/servant status of this black figure would be the style of dress. The cut-work shoulders and other features of the clothing do not seem typical of the 18th century, and could reflect the often fanciful kinds of costumes worn by slaves of the wealthy during this period. Usually, black male figures appear in portraits of this period in attendance to their masters, serving as status symbols. The figures are usually engaged in established, common activities such as holding a bowl of fruit or some article of the sitter’s clothing. In the case of this painting, however, this relationship is indicated in a unique and far less subservient manner. The origin of the painting is as yet uncertain, however, strong clues exist as witnessed in the urban landscape seen through the window in the painting. According to the scholar Bentley Angliss, tiled roofs of this lively and distinctive reddish-pink color are specific to Portugal and colonial Brazil, which was under Portuguese rule until 1822. The architecture is  reminiscent of that found in the Brazilian northeastern coastal city of Ceará, settled as a fief of the Portuguese crown whose economy in the 18th century centered on sugar plantations worked by black slaves, and the mining towns of Minas Gerais, such as Ouro Preto, where slave labor was employed during the gold rush and whose magnificent Baroque architecture is well-preserved even today. The slave population in Brazil was the largest in the world, spanning four centuries. In the 1600s, when native Americans were no longer considered a viable labor force due to large numbers of deaths from abuse and disease, the Portuguese began importing black Africans to support their mining and sugarcane ventures, and to work on their large estates. Slaves were owned by the upper and middle classes, however they were also owned by the poor as well as other slaves. Although abolished in Portugal in 1761, it was not until 1881 that Brazil enacted it’s final abolition, the last country in the Western World to do so. Despite this prolonged injustice, slaves in Brazil experienced a less severe lifestyle than those in other parts of the world. Religion played a large role in the treatment of slaves there. Christianization was required and groups of slaves were baptized en masse, and slaves that worked on plantations owned by religious orders were given unusually fair treatment. Working conditions and hours do not appear to have been as harsh for the Brazilian slave, who was often given a portion of the day to tend to his own land. In addition, along with Sundays and Christmas, Brazilian slaves were given approximately thirty additional holidays throughout the year.

The labrum, or basin, was used as a water vessel in ancient Roman bath complexes and gardens. With the construction of aqueducts, water could be carried for miles and its use was no longer restricted to basic necessities, but could now be enjoyed for recreation and decorative purposes. It is apparent from ancient marble specimens and wall frescoes that ornamental fountains were popular additions to the garden landscapes of antiquity.

The present botanical table takes the form of an ancient basin on stand. A fountain related to the present table, constructed from a basin and stand, is in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (figure 1). Dating from the 1st century AD, this white marble example also has a shaped square top with tapering concave sides above a circular basin raised on a fluted circular stem. Similar to the present table, there is a rosette at the center of the basin, however, it is pierced in the ancient example, allowing water into the bowl. A second ancient example can be found in the Vatican museum collections. Its circular bowl is gadrooned like the present table, and it, too, has a fluted circular splayed stem that sits on a square plinth. The designs of such labra were copied and disseminated in works such as Anne-Claude-Phillipe Caylus’ Recueil d’antiquités égyptiennes, étrusques, grecques, romaines et gauloises (1752-67) (figure 2). Figure 1

Figure 2 The present table is constructed much in the manner of the work of the celebrated designer and architect Karl Friederich Schinkel (1781-1841). The formal restraint of the table, free from extraneous decoration and marked by the smooth elegance of its form and the quality of its detailing, is characteristic of Schinkel’s neo-classical furniture designs. The table is closely related to an engraving of an antique marble urn from Tivoli published in Vorbilder für Fabrikanten und Handwerker, for which Schinkel provided the plates from 1821 (figure 3). Like the present table, that piece has a square top, molded to the inside edge and to the external sides, supported on a circular gadrooned support, itself raised on a spreading circular molded stem and stood on a square plinth. Although the Tivoli urn features the motif of decorative swans to each corner of the top, the forms of the table and the engraving are otherwise so closely related that it seems probable that the urn provided the inspiration for the present piece. Figure 3 Schinkel was profoundly engaged with relating his architecture to nature and the surrounding landscape, and the present table can be seen in the context of the garden rooms he incorporated into his buildings to achieve this conjunction. These rooms served to relate interiors to the gardens beyond and often ran directly into pergolas and garden terraces. The multifunctional table possesses capabilities of both growing and displaying plants by means of a removable tabletop and a series of removable trays, which fit ingeniously into the curving sides of the table’s basin. When all the trays are removed, a central button is revealed inside the basin, which, when pressed, releases a drawer concealed in the table’s base, where the trays can be stored when not in use. Schinkel realized this philosophy in a series of neo-classical villas built for the Prussian royal family in the middle of the 1820s. At Schloss Glienicke, built for Prince Karl, son of Friedrich Wilhem III from 1824, Schinkel transformed a modest country house into an Italianate villa and constructed a casino flanked with pergolas and vine-clad loggias, into which opened directly the central saloon with a large mirrored wall to reflect the garden. This combination of interior and landscape was repeated in the pavilion Schinkel constructed in the grounds of Schloss Charlottenburg in 1824. In that villa a continuous external balcony connected the rooms of the first floor and an axially placed garden room commanded a view along the whole of the long garden terrace towards the Schloss itself.

The Gothick style, or Gothic Revival, was an 18th century reinterpretation of medieval Gothic architecture that began in Englandcirca 1740. Unlike 16th and 17th century manifestations of the Gothic style, which was to suggest the Apostolic Succession of the Anglican Church, the 18th century version was purely decorative, was not strictly copied, and was often blended with exotic elements. Objects of typical Georgian form were applied with tracery, arches, crockets, and pinnacles. Here we share a few early 19th century Neo-Gothic pieces from the Carlton Hobbs collection.

First discovered over two thousand years ago by the Romans, Blue John is an unusual mineral from the area around Mam Tor mountain at Treak Cliff near Castleton in Derbyshire, England (figure 2). This is the only known location where Blue John can be found, though other types of fluorspars are mined throughout the world. The name “Blue John” is believed to derive from the French bleu jaune,1 meaning “blue-yellow,” and it is characterized by bands of blue/purple and yellow/white colored veins. It is a difficult material to work with, as the stone is soft, brittle, and can be altered in coloration by excessive heating.2 Because of its rarity, the material is no longer used on a grand scale. Presently, only approximately one quarter of a ton is excavated each year and is used primarily for jewelry and small objects.

Formerly in the collection of the 4th Earl Poulett, this table originally formed part of the celebrated collection of Hinton House, Hinton St. George, Gloucestershire.

The present table was designed circa 1963 by English sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986). Made entirely of travertine, “one of his favourite stones,” and constructed in two parts, the table was intended for the living room of the Moore family home at 198 Via Mateo Civitali in Forte dei Marmi, Italy, where the family vacationed in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Term of the Day: Grotesque 1/15/10

A mosaic tabletop, probably Roman circa 1680, designed to represent the look of an ancient marble, such as Egyptian alabaster or giallo antico.

A mosaic tabletop, probably Roman circa 1680, designed to represent the look of an ancient marble, such as Egyptian alabaster or giallo antico. On an ebonized base made in the 19th century.

In mid-16th century Renaissance Italy, the production of panels and tabletops using inlays of semiprecious stone began, with materials and geometric designs deriving from classical Roman motifs.

However, the design of this particular tabletop, which is probably Roman circa 1680, represents a complete departure from this tradition in that it is a pure interpretation in mosaic of ancient marble, possibly Egyptian alabaster or giallo antico. We know of no other comparable example and, as such, believe this top to be probably unique. Egyptian alabaster was one of the stones most highly prized by the ancient Romans, and was largely employed in the making of canopic jars, statues, ritual objects and sarcophagi. “Alabaster” of ancient civilizations describes calcium carbonate (sometimes referred to as calcite-alabaster, travertine, or limestone onyx). The layers of Egyptian alabaster, formed by deposits in limestone caverns or calcareous springs, create a banded appearance in the stone. It occurs in three forms: an opaque, milky appearance; “fibrous, coloured in shades of pale brown or yellowish to orangish-brown with faint to marked layering;”1 and a combination of the two, which is possibly figured in the present tabletop.

The ebonized base, made in the 19th century, is reminiscent of mid-17th century designs for drawer-leaf tables found in both the Netherlands and Sweden.