Untitled
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1740 (part)
Materials
Gilt deal, textile, paint
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 435156
Summary
A pair of giltwood console tables, English, part mid 18th century with additions and losses. Each with a velvet covered top above a moulded and ribbon carved edge, the top held by an eagle with wings raised standing on an architectural scroll and a painted plinth. The tops later, probably originally with marble tops, the painted plinth later, re-gilded.
Full description
See: Bowett, Adam 'Early Georgian Furniture 1715-1740' ACC 2009 pgs.228-231 'Tables with bases carved as eagles, sphinxes and dolphins were one of the most popular manifestations of neo-Palladian taste, perhaps because of their compact form...All three designs are popularly associated with William Kent but it is difficult to document his responsibility. Of the three types the eagles are the most common.' The design a was almost certainly taken form Italian sources and adopted by several furniture makers, the earliest bill known is from John Phillips for a pair of eagle tables supplied to Badminton House in 1735. Thomas Moore supplied a single table to Dudley Rider in May 1736 also William Bradshaw. Trade cards of the 1730s and 40s advertising eagle tables include those of William Tomkins in London and Francis Brodie in Edinburgh. James Weedon (August 2018)
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984.
References
Bowett 2009, Early Georgian Furniture 1715 - 1740 (2009), pgs. 228-231