Table
after Thomas Willement (London c.1786 - Faversham 1871)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1835
Materials
Carved oak, verde antico marble top mounted with a gilt bronze border
Measurements
78.8 x 178.7 x 89.5 cm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Charlecote Park, Warwickshire
NT 532972.1
Summary
An oak table, circa 1835. The table features a rectangular Verde Antico Roman top which is inset with a gilt bronze border. Below the marble top is a frieze with diamond carved cartouches and issuing inverted finials to each angle and in the centre. The table has two carved trestle end supports which are joined by a tapering and turned high stretcher. One of a pair (532972.1-2) The marble tops were bought in Rome by George Lucy (died in 1786) who received a letter dated "June 2nd 1758" from "Mr Russel" in Rome :"to inform (...) that your marble tables are completed and delivered; the brass rims are neatly finished". When quoting this letter in her Biography of the Lucy family (1862), Mary Elizabeth Lucy adds "These are the two fine Verde Antique slabs now in the billiard-room at Charlecote; they cost £80". The tables are thought to have been designed by Willement and made in London. According to C.Wainwright "they were the most innovatory pieces of furniture designed for the house". They can be paralleled with tables from Aston Hall created by Richard Bridgens and published in his book Furniture with candelabra (1825).
Provenance
Presented to the National Trust by Sir Montgomerie Fairfax-Lucy (1896 – 1965), two years after the death of his father, Sir Henry Ramsay-Fairfax, 3rd Bt (1870 – 1944), with Charlecote Park and its chief contents, in 1946.
Makers and roles
after Thomas Willement (London c.1786 - Faversham 1871), designer
References
Wainwright, 1989: Clive Wainwright, The romantic interior: the British collector at home, 1750-1850. Studies in British Art. New Haven; London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 1989. [Charlecote pp.208-240]