John Hogan (1800-1858) was one of Ireland’s greatest sculptors. He was born the son of a carpenter at Tallow, Co. Waterford, and by 1816 was apprenticed to Thomas Deane, a builder and architect for whom he worked as a carpenter and woodcarver. In 1823, he attracted the attention of the Irish engraver W.P. Carey, who recognized his talent and helped him  to study in Rome. Portrait of John Hogan. Cork City Libraries.

Hogan set out for Italy and soon made a name for himself, remaining there except for a number of return visits to Ireland, until 1848.  Famed neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorwaldsen is supposed to have said, “My son you are the best sculptor I leave after me in Rome.”  In 1840, Hogan was elected a member of the society of “Virtuosi al Pantheon”, the first British subject to be so honored since its foundation in 1500. Hogan died in Dublin on 27 March 1858, ten years after he finally left Italy.  Whilst in Rome he had sent much of his work home and subsequently today most of his sculpture is in Ireland. Hogan frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy in London, as well as at the National Exhibition of 1852 in Cork and the Paris International exhibition.  He was quick to take up the neoclassicism of Canova and Thorwaldsen when he arrived in Rome, and his seemingly effortless talent produced a body of work which was much admired, from his religious and funerary monuments to his large scale commissioned work and intimate portraits. Marble portrait bust of James Murphy by Hogan.

The present bust depicts James Murphy (1768-1855) of Ringmahon Castle, Blackrock, Co. Cork. James was a magistrate and a brewer who, along with his brothers, founded James Murphy and Company, Distillers in 1825. The Murphy family was also known for having several of its members in the clergy, including James’ brother, Bishop Murphy, who Hogan had also portrayed. The curly hair is heavily drilled and his eyelids sharply incised; this together with the strong modeling of the face produce a keenly observed and exquisitely sculpted portrait. The relief on the base (left) shows Mercury flying with cadacus and trumpet; the relief (right) shows Hibernia seated on a bale with cornucopia and a barrel.  Both reliefs are emblematic of commerce. Signed and dated on the reverse Hogan Fecit 1834.

Of ebony, silver inlay, mounted with Tulyakov jasper, lapis lazuli, agate, amber, striated green glass and with silver inlay. Each in the form of a tapering obelisk, panelled to the front and inlaid with shaped hardstones, raised on four ball feet above a rectangular plinth panelled to the front and set with shaped stones above a molded edge set on a plain frieze with inlaid stone to the front, above a plain plinth base.

The present pair of oval paintings represent the mythological figures of Hercules and Cronos. The composition of the paintings is closely related to the forms of antique sculpture, here given greater animation and a baroque sense of drama. Hercules is shown at the height of his powers with a massive, bulky presence and the closely trimmed beard of a young man. He is often depicted in a similar pose, astride the Nemean lion, whose slaying was the first of his twelve labors. The second painting depicts Cronos or Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture who, in his Greek manifestation, features in the myth of creation and came to be associated with Time. He is always shown as an aged man, with a long beard and without the strident virility of the younger Hercules. As the deity of agriculture and of time, he rests on a scythe with a snake consuming itself, an ancient symbol of eternity, hanging from the withered branch on which he leans.

Watercolors on paper depict the following aircraft:

Albatros D III: Height 21.7" (55 cm); Width 26.8" (68 cm). Aereo de Caccia: Height 39.4" (100 cm); Width 29.9" (76 cm). AV Berg D I e Fiat R 2: Height 29.9" (76 cm); Width 39.4" (100 cm). Brandenburg A; Height 35.4" (90 cm); Width 28.3" (72 cm). Gotha G IV: Height 29.1" (74 cm); Width 41.3" (105 cm). Junkers J 7: Height 41.7" (106 cm); Width 29.5" (75 cm). Macchi M 316; Height 25.6" (65 cm); Width 38.6" (98 cm). SIA 7 B 2: Height 21.7" (55 cm); Width 30.7" (78 cm).

Watercolor on paper laid to canvas in original green painted molded frames.

Of giltwood with painted opaline glass panels. Of geometric form, the giltwood frame comprising gilt beaded and guilloche mouldings and fitted with panels of opaline glass painted with scrolling foliate decorations, the whole terminating in an acanthine 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 various woods including boxwood, purple heart, mahogany and ebony. The rectangular top with curved corners with original black leather inset within a band of Greek key decoration and edged with a geometric border, the continuous shaped frieze inlaid with a striped pattern and concealing four drawers to the front opened by hidden locks and catches and concealing an extending writing surface to the reverse, the central ratcheted slide inlaid with a coronet. The knee-hole to the front flanked by two deep drawers, inlaid with a geometric patterns and released by a hidden mechanism below each drawer, the sides and reverse similarly inlaid, the curved corners inlaid with a lozenge pattern, the whole raised on four shaped and turned legs, each inlaid with tapering striped decoration.

A very similar table can be seen in William Odom's book, A History of Italian Furniture. The table Odom illustrates is of walnut with elongated drawers, however the identical Greek key frieze below the drawers, coupled with the closely comparable fluted tapering legs and fluted corner-posts strongly suggest that both pieces share the same maker. The table illustrated by Odom is described as being either 'Liguria or Emilia, Late XVIII Century'

The neoclassical style and architectural imagery of these later 18th-century marquetry commodes identify them as pieces designed and created by the artisans of the famous botteghe in Rolo, Italy, which by that time was known as the center for high-quality marquetry furniture. The Rolese workshops had been producing fine intarsia work since the 1400s, in the illusionistic style established by the brothers Cristoforo (1448-1491) and Lorenzo (1425-1477) Canozi da Lendinara. In the 18th-century, the entire region of Emilia-Romana had become a hub of neoclassicism, inspired by the arrival in 1753 of Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot to serve as court architect to the Duke of Parma. Under Petitot's influence, the artisans of Rolo began producing furniture that was neoclassical in form, but still decorated with Renaissance imagery inspired by the Lendinara brothers' work. The present commodes, with their rectilinear form and perspectival architectural decoration, are an example of this.

The Top And Frieze Section Probably Florentine. Circa 1720. The Base English. Circa 1820. This extraordinary table must rank as one of the most exuberant and flamboyant expressions of the late Regency taste and was almost certainly conceived and made in England in the early years of the 19th century as a vehicle for the display of its superb 18th-century Florentine pietre dure tabletop. The subject matter and character of the present top appear to have no precedent in the study of marble inlay in Italy. The composition of the top closely resembles an engraving by the Flemish-born artist Giovanni Stradano (1523-1605). The table base, which is composed of two entwined dolphins, forms part of a small group of early 19th-century tables with similar bases conceived in an antiquarian taste inspired by the English Palladian movement of the first half of the 18th century, and in particular by the furniture designs of William Kent.

In 1819, John Howard Galton, son of Samuel Galton Jr. and Lucy Barlcay of Dudson House, Birmingham, was married to Isabella Strutt, daughter of Joseph Strutt, Mayor of Derby and Isabel Douglas. This table was made in honor of the marriage, with both families' crests and coats-of-arms displayed on its top using inlaid marble and hardstone decoration. The large shield shows the Galton coat-of-arms, with a small shield inside it showing the coats-of-arms of the Strutt and Douglas families. Above are the crests of the Galtons and the Strutts. The top's exquisite quality suggests it was made in one of the leading Italian workshops, where English noblemen often commissioned lapidary items. Its base has a pleasing Grecian simplicity, and traces of an unusual dark green coating indicating that it originally resembled bronze. The Galtons' home was Hadzor Hall, former home of Katherine of Aragon. The table remained there until 1929, when John Howard's grandson, the last of the Galton line, died.

This table was designed circa 1963 by English sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986), for the living room of his home in Forte dei Marmi, Italy. It was made entirely out of travertine, one of Moore's favorite stones, which is a porous, yet durable, sedimentary rock that is used primarily in buildings, and which Moore used for sculptures including one commissioned by UNESCO, Paris. The stone was quarried near Rome, and the table was made by the Henraux workshop in Querceta, near Forte dei Marmi. The entire design and construction process of the present table was carried out during "one long summer holiday period", and it remained in the family's Italian vacation home until Henry Moore's death, after which it was inherited by his daughter, Mary Moore Danowski. According to Moore's daughter, apart from two wooden carved benches made in the early 1920s, this table is the only piece of furniture Henry Moore ever created.

During the Renaissance, panels and tabletops inlaid with semiprecious stone began to be produced in Italy, with materials and geometric designs derived from classical Roman motifs. The present tabletop, which was probably made in Rome around 1680, represents a complete departure from this tradition, since its design is an imitation in mosaic of ancient marble, possibly Egyptian alabaster or giallo antico. We know of no comparable example, and so believe this top to be probably unique. Egyptian alabaster, which can appear with a combination of opaque milky sections and yellow-orange-brown fibrous layers, was one of the stones most highly prized by ancient Romans, and was used in making many ritual objects. The ebonized base, which was made for the top in the 19th century, is reminiscent of mid-17th century designs for drawer-leaf tables found in the Netherlands and Sweden.

This distinctive and highly unusual table houses a remarkable collection of semiprecious hardstones and marbles, each set in a silver frame and, interestingly, inscribed on the reverse with its Latin name, which signifies that the stones constituted a geological collection. Tabletops inlaid with mineral collections brought back from the Grand Tour in Italy were highly desired in fashionable circles during this period, though their compositions lacked the inventiveness and artistry of the present table. The table also bears an inlaid armorial with the mantle and coronet of either a Prince of Russia or a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, very similar to a pair of armorials on a music cabinet from Schwarzenau Castle in Austria. While the table was clearly intended for a European aristocratic household, its sculptural appearance, dark gold lacquer on the mounts, and brass inlay on the legs all indicate that it was made in an English workshop.

This tabletop is inlaid with stone images of Masonic symbols, including in its central section a doorway representing Obedience, a paved floor (Humility), and two columns (Creation and Salvation). The octagonal shape of the tabletop is also symbolic: it is derived from the "square upon square", an important design in Freemasonry. The border of the table is filled with the working tools of a stonemason, which are all given symbolic meaning by Freemasons: the level implies equality; the square represents morality; and the trowel symbolizes unity, "spreading the cement of the Brotherhood" of the society.

The top of this table is composed of a fragment of an ancient Roman floor mosaic, possibly from somewhere like the ancient Roman dwelling called Casa Rural das Ruinas in Milreu, Portugal. The baths at this villa, which was built and expanded between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, still have their brightly-colored tile decorations of marine life, including fish very similar to the one on this tabletop, and the same set of distinctive geometric shapes, which may represent mollusks and jellyfish.