Occasional table
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1870
Materials
Marble (both Ashford and specimens), ebonised wood, parcel gilt
Measurements
74 cm (Height); 58 cm (Diameter)
Place of origin
England
Order this imageCollection
Dunster Castle, Somerset
NT 725815
Summary
An Ashford marble, ebonised and parcel gilt pedestal or occasional table, English, circa 1870. The circular top with a floral design of roses, pinks and magnolia to the centre, within a border of trailing vine, daisies and birds, all within a narrow outer strip of lozenge-shaped specimen marbles, raised on a column with floral and gadrooned collars, the hipped splayed legs headed with sprays of roses and terminating in scroll feet.
Full description
Ashford black marble is the name given to a dark limestone, quarried from mines near Ashford-in-the-water, Derbyshire. Once cut, turned and polished, its shiny black surface is highly decorative. Other coloured rock from local sources was often used as inlay in the black marble. These may include grey, blue and purple local minerals from Monyash, "rosewood" from Nettler Dale in Sheldon which consisted of red and white layers and barytes which created other variations, the local Castleton Blue John and yellow flourspar from Crich, whilst "Birds-Eye" rock had a design made from the fossils that it contained. Some of these are found here.
Provenance
Gift of Mrs. E Roper in 1984.