Console table
Category
Furniture
Date
1750 - 1760
Materials
Giltwood, gesso, mirrored glass and marble
Place of origin
Turin
Order this imageCollection
Ickworth, Suffolk
NT 850066
Summary
A pair of giltwood and marble console tables and pier mirrors, north Italian, Turin, circa 1755 The mirror inset with a painted panel of a landscape scene after Verner surmounted by female masks with scroll and rocaille carving incorporating wings and putti heads on C scroll cornucopia. Below the panel is a cartouche with further scroll carving and garlands of flowers across the mirror plate. The paneled frame with low relief gesso anthemion motifs and egg and dart moulding. The apron with conforming carving centered by a shell floral and scroll motif. The table with a shaped serpentine moulded edge above a scroll floral pierced cartouche and heavily carved cabriole legs headed by female masks and tied by a stretcher with a mail mask with rocaille head dress.
Full description
These tables and mirrors were almost certainly bought in Italy by the 2nd Earl of Bristol when he was appointed British Minister in Turin (1755-8) The elegant and finely carved giltwood console tables and pier mirrors are consistent with other mid-18th Turinese pieces. The high-hipped legs carved with rocaille relates them to examples in the Palazzo Reale, Turin. There is a similar pair in the Ickworth collection NT850051 which also were almost certainly bought in Turin by the 2nd Earl. See Viale, Mostra del Palazzo Piemontese, Vol 3, pl.60, fig. b and pl.66, fig.b.) (James Weedon 2017)
Provenance
Part of the Bristol Collection. The house and contents were acquired through the National Land Fund and transferred to the National Trust in 1956. It is most likely that these tables and mirrors were bought by the 2nd Earl of Bristol in Turin circa 1755.
References
Viale, Mostra del Palazzo Piemontese, Vol 3, pl.60, fig. b and pl.66, fig.b