Library table
workshop of George Morant (fl. 1790 - 1839)
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1813
Materials
Oak, walnut, yew, ebonized wood, leather, brass
Measurements
74.5 x 168 x 122 cm
Place of origin
88 New Bond Street, London
Order this imageCollection
Melford Hall, Suffolk
NT 926534
Summary
A yew-banded oak and walnut pedestal library table, English, probably supplied by George Morant (fl. c. 1790 - 1839) (also G. J. Morant and later Morant & Co), of New Bond Street, circa 1813, shortly after the library at Melford Hall, designed by Thomas Hopper (1776 - 1856), was completed that year. The top inset with a green tooled leather writing surface and with an egg and dart-carved edge. The friezes veneered with a band of yew within the confines of ebonized lines and fitted at the corners with a pair of truss-like scrolls. Raised on a yew and ebony-banded hexagonal column on a similarly-decorated concave base with ivy and shell-carved scrolling trusses, and ebonized scroll and paw-carved feet, with brass castors.
Full description
Part of a suite of furniture believed to relate to payments of £700 made by Sir William Parker, 7th Baronet (1769 - 1830) to George Morant of 88 New Bond Street, cabinet-makers and upholsterers to William IV, between 1812 and 1815. In the same period, Gillows of Lancaster received payments of just over £100, possibly for the Grecian chaises longue, or couches, with winged feet [NT 926537.1 & .2]. Having succeeded the 6th Baronet in 1812, Sir William began altering this wing of Melford, filling in the recesses between the turrets of the West Front in order to provide an extra suite of bedrooms upstairs, and a Library and study for his own use downstairs. The rainwater heads to the exterior of this part of the Hall bear the date 1813. Sir William employed Thomas Hopper (1776 - 1856), most famous now for Penrhyn Castle, Carlton House for the Prince Regent and Erddig. He also made alterations to Kentwell Hall, less than half a mile from Melford Hall. The furniture was carefully designed to complement the bookcases [NT 926600] and the matching dado, which are of oak, yew-wood and dark-stained walnut. Two reading tables [NT 926535 & 926536], with hinged tops, and a firescreen [NT 926597], match this table. (Megan Wheeler, 2017)
Provenance
Probably acquired circa 1814 by Sir William Parker, 7th Baronet (1769 - 1830). Thence, part of the Hyde Parker Collection, and by descent to Sir Richard Hyde Parker, 12th Baronet (b. 1937). Melford Hall and part of the collection were Accepted in Lieu and transferred by the Treasury to the National Trust in 1960.
Makers and roles
workshop of George Morant (fl. 1790 - 1839), designer workshop of George Morant (fl. 1790 - 1839), cabinetmaker
References
Jackson-Stops (1981), Gervase Jackson-Stops, 'Thomas Hopper at Melford and Erddig', in National Trust Studies 1981, 69 - 83