Erddig's 'Glass Table with the Arms upon a Silver Frame' - 1726
John Belchier (1699 - 1753)
Category
Furniture
Date
1726
Materials
Carved and silvered oak and softwood, silvered glass, paint, gilding, bole
Measurements
74.5 x 96 x 54.5 cm
Place of origin
St. Paul's Churchyard
Order this imageCollection
Erddig, Wrexham
NT 1146972
Summary
A silvered and carved mirror-topped pier table, made by John Belchier (fl. 1717-53) of St. Paul's Churchyard, London, circa 1726. The top a piece of silvered mirror glass, reverse-painted with the arms of Meller, argent, three blackbirds sable, beaked and membered or, on a chief indented of the second, its immediate border carved with interlaced strapwork, the outer border gadrooned. Above a coved frieze carved in shallow relief with foliate sprays. And with flared aprons, with central shaped pendants, and unusual foliate and scroll-carved bracket spandrels, on four cabriole legs with pad feet, and small scrolls to the fore-ankle. All-over with a punch-decorated ground.
Full description
This remarkable table is recorded in a bill covering payments made by John Meller (d. 1733) for goods supplied to Erddig between 1722 and 1726. It cost £14, and furnished the Withdrawing Room to the Best Bedchamber. It originally had a walnut cover, which no longer survives. The bill also records that 'a fine large Sconce Silver framed' had cost Meller £21 in July 1723. This is almost certainly the 'large Sconch with a silver Fram & 2 pairs of Glass Arms' recorded just before the table in the inventory of 1726. Although both the table and the mirror [NT 1146971] were moved when the Best Bedchamber and its adjoining Withdrawing Room made way for the Dining Room in the 1820s, they are still displayed together in the Tapestry Room. A set of nine pieces of seat furniture - also with an extremely unusual silvered finish - complemented the mirror and this table, and are also still at Erddig [NT 1146958.1-.9]. The silvered glass is reverse-painted with Meller's arms, argent, three blackbirds sable, beaked and membered or, on a chief indented of the second. Family history records that the top - still cracked - was badly damaged in 1854 when Philip Yorke II (1849-1922), then aged four, smashed it with a toy hammer. (Megan Wheeler, 2019)
Provenance
Recorded in a bill against the date 6 June 1726 as 'Silver table with a glass top and a Coat of Arms cut and gilt on itt...£14.00.00' and recorded in the inventory taken at Erddig on 5 August as '1 Glass Table with the Arms upon a Silver Frame', in the Withdrawing Room to the Best Bedchamber. Remarked upon by John Loveday in 1732. By descent, and given by Philip Yorke III (1905-1978) along with the estate, house and contents to the National Trust in 1973.
Makers and roles
John Belchier (1699 - 1753), glassmaker John Belchier (1699 - 1753), cabinetmaker
References
Bowett 2009, Early Georgian Furniture 1715 - 1740 (2009), pp. 210-211, Plate 5:20 and 5:22