Table
Category
Furniture
Date
1600
Materials
Walnut, bone, mother-of-pearl, pine, mahogany
Measurements
75.1 x 125.9 x 60.1 cm
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Castle Drogo, Devon
NT 902388
Summary
Folding table inlaid with bone and mother-of-pearl, in a strapwork pattern with grotesque ornament. Probably Venetian c.1600. The Castle Drogo tables are described in the Christie's sales catalogue for an auction which took place on 9th December 2010. According to the sale particulars of the almost identical Poniatowski table, the Drogo tables belong to a group of pieces with a Venetian provenance. All of these pieces of furniture have the same unmistakeable decoration and form a stylistically coherent group precisely because of the way that they are inlaid with mother-of-pearl on a rare kind of light palisander (Brazilian rosewood). A number of stylistic similarities point to their being made in Venice at some point in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century. Although there are a few ‘classical’ elements, the pattern of interlacing tendrils and flowers is clearly oriental in origin, which fits absolutely with Venetian taste of the period. Previously described as 'probably made in Germany by Gun Stock makers in about 1600'.
Provenance
This item forms part of the original Drewe family collection at Castle Drogo. It was transferred to the National Trust in 2007.
Marks and inscriptions
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