Centre table
Anthony Salvin (1799 - 1881)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1833
Materials
Oak, ebonised line inlay, ebony handles, mahogany drawer linings, pine carcass
Measurements
75 x 244 x 122 cm
Order this imageCollection
Knightshayes Court, Devon
NT 540729
Summary
A large figured oak centre table, English, circa 1833, designed by Anthony Salvin for Mamhead House, Devon. The rectangular moulded top with four frieze drawers to each side, all with ebony handles, the top with two large segmentally-veneered circles with corner quadrants and outer border of crossbanding, all delineated with ebonised lines, raised on square column supports with pierced spandrels and pendant finials, the end columns each having a pair of pierced angled Gothic bracket supporters, all standing on a shaped moulded plinth with block feet.
Full description
Anthony Salvin (1799-1881) was one of the most successful British architects in the first half of Queen Victoria’s reign. Although he has been heralded as an early pioneer of the Gothic Revival he was at home designing in a number of different styles, including Elizabethan revival, adeptly interpreting historic styles with ingenuity to meet his clients’ needs. In his day he had an enormous practice all over the country building country houses and modernising castles. He also designed schools. Of country houses the remarkable Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire built in a pre-Renaissance Tudor style and the similar Thoresby Hall in Nottinghamshire designed some 30 years apart are two outstanding examples. Castles from Alnwick to Windsor and the Tower of London were extended and modernised. In 1844 Salvin built, from scratch, a brand new castle at Peckforton in Cheshire for George Tollemache the local MP. For many of the houses, notably Mamhead House (his first major commission) and Scotney Castle, he supplied furniture, including the famous bedroom suite that he designed for Sir Robert Newman in preparation for Queen Adelaide's visit to Mamhead.
Provenance
Designed by Anthony Salvin for Mamhead House, Devon. Purchased by the National Trust at Bearnes of Torquay in 1982.
Makers and roles
Anthony Salvin (1799 - 1881), architect