Table top
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1775 - 1800
Materials
Stone, Sicilian alabaster, gilt bronze
Measurements
5.5 x 177 x 88 cm
Place of origin
Rome
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 608140.1.2
Summary
A mosaic table-top, probably made in Rome, circa 1775-1800, atop a carved and painted giltwood side table (NT 608149.1.1). One of a pair. The other table and table-top, NT 608149.2.1 & .2.2. Formed from tesserae of between 0.4cm and 0.6cm square. The ground in white and decorated with black tesserae in what is known as the 'swastika meander' pattern around red hexagons enclosing alternating stylized flowerheads (three different flowerheads in total), mainly in blue, green, yellow and terracotta. Within an outer border of Sicilian alabaster and gilt bronze.
Full description
This mosaic table top, and its pair, were probably made in Rome. The bases, despite having features found on tables made in several places in Italy, have recently been re-attributed to Genoa following research on the large collection of Italian furniture at Attingham by National Trust furniture curators, Christopher Rowell and Dr Wolf Burchard. The tables have been found to correspond with other Genoese tables, such as the one made circa 1785 for the dining room of Palazzo Spinola di Pellicceria, Genoa, which has a similar stretcher with curved ends and a circular central platform for an urn. They are also reminiscent of a pair of torchères designed by Carlo Randoni (1755-1831) for the Chapel Corridor at Palazzo Tursi, Genoa for where, it is believed, much of the other Italian furniture at Attingham was made. Their attribution to Genoa is also strengthened by William Noel-Hill, 3rd Lord Berwick’s (1773-1842) long-term residence in the region as a British envoy and diplomat.
Provenance
Believed to be 3rd Lord Berwick collection: William Noel-Hill, 3rd Baron Berwick (1773 - 1842). Listed in the Inventory taken at Attingham Park in 1913 (p. 59). Thence by descent, bequeathed to the National Trust with the estate, house and partial contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) and transferred to the National Trust on 15th May 1953.
References
Rowell & Burchard 2020: Christopher Rowell & Wolf Burchard, 'Italian Furniture at Attingham Park', Furniture History LVI (2020), 107-176, 157-9, Figures 54-6