Console table
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1750 - 1760
Materials
Giltwood, deal, gesso, marble
Measurements
92.5 cm (H); 184 cm (W); 74 cm (D)
Place of origin
North Italian
Order this imageCollection
Beningbrough Hall, North Yorkshire
NT 1190840
Summary
A giltwood and marble console table, North Italian, probably Turin, circa 1750-60. Shaped serpentine Breche violette marble top with moulded edge above a pierced foliate scrolling carved frieze with garlands of flowers, acorns and oak leaves. Raised on carved high hipped cabriole legs and bun feet. The four legs are tied by a conforming carved X stretcher. Probably re-gilded in the 19th century.
Full description
For comparable examples see the National Trust Collection at Ickworth, Suffolk (NT 850066 & NT 850025). These tables were almost certainly bought in Italy by Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol (1730-1803) when he was appointed British Minister in Turin (1755-8) The elegant and finely carved giltwood console tables are consistent with other mid-18th Turinese pieces. The high-hipped legs carved with rocaille relates them to examples in the Palazzo Reale, Turin. See: Viale, Mostra del Palazzo Piemontese, Vol 3, pl.60, fig. b and pl.66, fig.b. (James Weedon, October 2019)
Provenance
Likely to be originally from Holme Lacy, the inherited Scudamore house sold by the 10th Earl of Chesterfield in 1910. This item may be lot 529: "an Italian gilt framed console table with shaped rouge top". Some items were apparently bought by Lady Chesterfield's mother or agents working on her behalf (or possibly bought back later). In 1917 Lady Chesterfield purchased Beningbrough Hall and furnished it with many items that had been at Holme Lacy. After Lady Chesterfield's death, the console table (then located in the Hall) was amongst a small number of items purchased from the 1958 auction for transfer to the National Trust along with the house (accepted in lieu) by the Ministry of Works (lot 850). Documented in the 1958 Auction Catalogue and in the Ministry of Works 'Schedule of objects given to the National Trust for preservation at Beningbrough Hall'.
References
Viale, Mostra del Palazzo Piemontese, Vol 3, pl.60, fig. b and pl.66, fig.b