The present table, with its elegant shaped front, designed to represent Cupid’s bow, is an unusual development of the side table as typically found in giltwood examples by, or in the manner of, Robert Adam. Adam was a pioneer of the English neoclassical movement, whose Works in Architecture (1773) helped popularize the Roman taste for harmonizing the architecture of a room and its furniture through the introduction of “tablets” and “medallions.” The central tablet of the frieze depicts Cupid and Psyche bringing a sacrificial basket of food to an altar, which is unveiled by one of their winged companions. It is inspired by the Egyptian romance, The Metamorphoses or Golden Ass written by the Isis priest Apuleius, which records the birth of Hedone (“Pleasure”) upon the marriage of Cupid and Psyche. The prototype for this bas-relief is likely to have derived from an engraving of the celebrated Sardonyx cameo from The Marlborough Collection of Gems, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (figure 1), depicting the marriage procession of Cupid and Psyche acted out by putti. Prior to the Marlborough collection, the gem belonged to other notable owners including Peter Paul Rubens and the Duke of Arundel. Josiah Wedgwood and John Flaxman reproduced the gem in 1778 in the form of a jasper tablet, making collectors and designers alike aware of this composition.

The table also has very distinctive features within its carved ornament connected with this romantic theme. For instance, the frieze is applied with repeating gilded feather motifs, which are probably intended to evoke the wing feathers of cupid and are an interesting variant on the more usual acanthine patterns found on tables in the manner of Adam. Another underlying allusion of the feathers may be to the sun-god Apollo, as poetry deity and leader of the Mt. Parnassus Muses of Artistic Inspiration. Similar feathered plumes feature on the ceiling of an Apollonian temple illustrated in Robert Wood’s, Ruins of the Temple of the Sun at Palmyra, 1753 (figure 2).

The central tablet and table frieze are framed by an Etruscan/Grecian pearl-string, which recalls the dress of the water-born Venus. Pearls also tie palm leaves to the acanthus-wreathed capitals of the tapered legs. Palms are typically used to represent a victory, and in this instance signify the Triumph of Love. The legs are further wreathed by bands of sunflower petals, another allusion to the sun-god Apollo, and raised on stepped and antique-fluted plinths. The frieze’s projecting corner tablets, which are sunk with lozenge and acanthus-flowered compartments, relate to the ceiling ornament of a temple at Palmyra (figure 3).

Sideboards with tapered legs, usually six or eight in number, are a signature element of Adamesque design, intended for a silver plate garniture and the presentation of food and wine. The exceptionally large scale and opulent design of the present table, including the very unusual hue of bluish-green to the base, reflect its importance in providing a focal point for a banqueting or dining room. Here it served like a temple altar, with its paired legs providing a “triumphal-arch” space for a wine-bottle cistern. The feet are particularly noteworthy, being of spaded circular form and incised with fluting.

The table stood in Linton Park, a mansion built by Robert Mann in the 18th century on the hillside of the eponymous village in Kent. The estate was originally called Capells Court after its initial proprietors who sold it in the late 16th century to the Mayney family, wealthy broadcloth merchants. It was from the Mayney’s that Robert Mann acquired the estate and subsequently remodeled it (figure 4). The Mann family maintained Linton Park until 1935, and in 1938 the estate and its contents were purchased and restored to its original state by Ronald Olaf Hambro, merchant banker and Director of the London Assurance Company. After Hambro, the table eventually passed to a distinguished American private collection, where it can be seen in situ in figure 5.

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.

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!

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.

You can now visit our Flickr Album for images of the tabletops to be included in our exhibition.

Snakes, more commonly referred to as serpents in mythology and religion, have held important positions in the dogmas of many cultures throughout history. They feature in the art and lore of Egyptian, Native American, African, Christian, Aboriginal, Indian, Judaic, and Ancient Greek (Fig. 1) and Roman civilization.

Irish. Circa 1810. Of marble. The rectangular top with moulded edge, raised on a flat spreading support to the rear with spade foot and to the front in curved leg, with acanthine carving to the top, terminating in paw feet.

English. Circa 1820. Of mahogany and inlaid boxwood. The demi-lune top with cross-banded border and inlaid stringing above a shaped undermould above two shelves edged with boxwood stringing divided by tapering posts inlaid with boxwood panels, edged with stringing and continuing to form four tapering legs, each leg terminating in a square tapering foot.

Possibly Sicilian. Circa 1735. Of carved and painted fruitwood. The bow-fronted marble top above the shaped apron carved with foliate c-scrolls against a diaper pattern ground, the lower edge carved with rocaille scrolls, the whole raised on four scrolling cabriole legs each headed by a carved shell and carved with acanthine decoration, each leg with scrolling spur to the front and terminating in a carved foot, the legs joined by a scrolling foliate carved x-shaped stretcher centred by a carved shell.

Of mahogany, verre églomisé, with marbleized decoration. The incurved superstructure set with a verre églomisé mounted drawer flanked by repeating lozenge marbleized decoration. The projecting ends set with black and silver foliate verre églomisé panels. The lower section with a reeded tambour above a verre églomisé mounted and geometrically inlaid sliding false drawer front opening to reveal two banks of narrow drawers flanked by foliate verre églomisé panels. The four cylindrical tapered legs headed by faceted sections with inset triangular foliate verre églomisé panels. The legs united by an incurved fretted stretcher painted with marbleized decoration.

Of finely figured mahogany. The rectangular ratcheted top above a plain frieze set with a single full length drawer fitted with a leather lined writing slide and lidded compartments. The front set with two rococo cast brass swan neck handles. The whole raised on four moulded and chamfered straight legs ending in a replaced block foot.

Of mahogany. The rectangular top with leather inset, rounded to the corners with a moulded edge above a plain frieze, the top raised on two curving X-shaped trestle ends with two foliate paterae to the centre, joined by two circular turned stretchers, the lower lengths moulded to the upper face, each leg terminating in a brass cap and raised on castors.

Of finely figured amboyna. The serpentine shaped top above a plain undulating frieze, fitted at each end with a drawer centred by a gilt bronze rococo escutcheon. The whole raised on four well drawn canted cabriole legs.

French. Circa 1925. The present table bears a number of characteristics typical of the work of Clément Mère. The use of patinated leather to decorative effect, often incorporating stylised floral patterns, together with the employment faux shagreen engraved ivory decoration can be seen in many of Mère's pieces. The present table also demonstrates Mère's adherence to more traditional classical forms of French furniture. Mère was born in Bayonne in 1870 and began his career as a Salon painter. Mère began designing furniture in the 1910s, and the refinement of his designs and his use of Egyptian motifs was an important part of the evolution of the Art Deco style in France. By 1924 it was clear that Mère was a highly regarded Parisian cabinet-maker. He produced a cabinet for Lord Rothermere and was commissioned to design a desk for Robert de Rothschild, now part of the collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

English. Circa 1810. The present elegantly conceived table can be attributed to the furniture designer Henzell Gouch, a sofa-table of whose is part of the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, and as such it represents an important contribution to the our knowledge of Gouch’s work. A closely related example of a piece known to be by Gouch’s is a sofa table, signed by the maker and dated 1815, illustrated in Christopher Gilbert’s Marked London Furniture 1700-1840. That piece follows the form of the present table with an ebony base conceived of lyre-shaped trestle ends, raised on curving legs and joined by a circular stretcher, supporting a rectangular top curving to the corners. In both pieces the top, above a plain broad frieze and framed in gilt brass, is set with oriental decoration surrounded by an elaborately patterned border. The use of brass inlay, however, distinguishes the present table from the example illustrated by Gilbert.

English. Circa 1845. The segmented top found on the present table was patented in March 1835 by Robert Jupe. Together with John Johnstone, the firm Johnstone, Jupe & Co. produced round and ovular tables that could be expanded not by pulling the table apart at the center and inserting rectangular leaves, but by expanding the table "so that the sections composing its surface may be caused to diverge from a common center and that the spaces caused thereby may be filled up by inserting leaves or filling pieces." The table, when turned, expands on an iron frame that shifts the table segments outward allowing room for wedge-shaped leaves. This iron mechanism topped with a brass plate would be engraved with the company's name, and a serial number would appear adjacent to the plate. The present table is stamped with number 5613. It is likely that only a small number of tables were produced.

English. Circa 1820. This highly unusual table is conceived in the distinctive manner of the renowned seventeenth-century Venetian sculptor and furniture maker Andrea Brustolon (1662 – 1732). The form of the table is highly inventive, with four full length figures forming the legs. They represent Prometheus chained at the wrists, Cinyras, the father of Adonis, who split open a myrrh tree from which emerged his new born son, and Mercury, who is depicted here as a beardless youth carrying a purse, his badge as one of the Roman gods of commerce. Hercules, one of Brustolon’s favorite characters is also shown, bearing a club and a lion’s skin. As well as representing a skilled interpretation of Brustolon’s style, the table also shares with Brustolon's work the highly unusual feature of being carved in boxwood. It is extremely rare to find a piece of furniture made wholly form boxwood.

English. Circa 1800.

Scagliola originated in Bavaria, and was kept secret until the mid-17th century. Around 1600 Blasius Fistulator and his son Wilhelm decorated the Reich Kapelle for Maximillian I: Wilhelm did a series of scagliola scenes from the life of Mary, including four landscapes, based on engravings by Albrecht Dürer. This tabletop's Rhineland hunting scene would have come from a contemporary painting or engraving by a Dutch or Flemish master such as Aelbert Cuyp, who traveled along the Rhine in the early 1650s. Maximillian I’s grandson, Max Emmanuel, moved some of Fistulator’s scagliola panels, reinstalling them circa 1725 in the Kammerkapelle. Johann Baptiste Zimmermann decorated the ceiling with stucco motifs that reappear in the frieze of this table's base, which appears to date from around 1725. It is possible that the top existed first as a panel on a wall: possibly one of the ones moved in 1725 by Max Emmanuel.

The Table English. Circa 1785. The Top Probably Rome. Circa 1600. This magnificent 16th-century Roman pietre dure top stands on an important neoclassical giltwood base, almost certain to have been made to a design by Thomas Leverton for the Drawing Room at Woodhall Park, the splendid mansion built in the 1780s for Sir Thomas Rumbold. The tabletop can be compared to a select group of similar pietre dure pieces that date from 1550 to 1620, which includes the Farnese Table, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, the famed Richelieu table in the Galerie d’Apollon in the Louvre, an octagonal table in the Palazzo Quirinale in Rome, and a rectangular top from Fonthill Abbey. The present top shares a number of defining features with the aforementioned pieces that would suggest Roman manufacture during the second half of the 16th century. The technical virtuosity of the craftsmanship and the complexity of the design are enhanced by the great variety of stones employed.