Side table: M/F.2-1944

Maker(s)

Production: Kent, William

Entities

• Side table

Categories

• Furniture

Description

Side table of carved mahogany with green antico verde marble top.
It appears to have been made up from a larger piece of furniture.

Legal notes

Bought with the Miss Grace Clarke Fund.

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1944)

Dating

18th Century, Mid
20th Century
Circa 1740 - Circa 1749

Note

The table appears to have been made up from a larger piece of furniture. The leaf decoration at the top of the left back leg was made in Feburary 1966 by the Museum's carpenter and was put on by him.

This table was designed by the eminent English architect, garden designer and furniture designer, William Kent, who introduced the Palladian style of architecture into England in the 1720s. Palladian architecture is a European style based on the designs of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–80), who drew his inspiration from the buildings of ancient Rome, especially temples. Palladianism, characterised by symmetry and balance, remained fashionable in England until the 1760s.

This type of large sturdy table with a smooth flat top is known as a pier table or console table. Designed to be placed against a wall, either between two windows or two columns, they were often used to display choice pieces of sculpture or vases. With their tops often created from a single slab of beautiful marble or stone, they were very expensive and meant to impress, recalling the tables found in Italian Renaissance palaces as well as those of ancient Rome. Verde antico (Italian for ‘antique green’) or Ophite is a dull dark green white-veined mineral known as serpentine (due to its resemblance to a serpent) which takes a high polish. It has been popular since ancient times as a decorative facing stone especially for interiors, as well as for use in furniture.