A George II carved giltwood side table. circa 1730

the replaced Breche Violet top above a bold egg and dart moulding, the front with an eagle suspending an oak leaf garland from its beak, perched on scrolls, on four sphinx supports with pierced cartouches to the sides above conforming garlands, with acanthus carved plinths to each corner, regilded. 84cm. high, 174cm. wide, 88cm. deep; 2ft. 9in., 5ft. 8½ in., 2ft. 10½ in. Est. 250,000—350,000 GBP

PROVENANCE: Anonymous sale, Phillips London, 8 February 2000, lot 66.

NOTE: The present table is designed in the Palladian theme principally associated with Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and his protégé the architect William Kent . This bold monumental style, pervading both architecture and the decorative arts was also promoted by Kent's circle including leading furniture designers of the age such as John Vardy, Matthias Lock, Henry Flitcroft, Benjamin Goodison and James Moore.

In her monograph The Work of William Kent, London, 1948, Margaret Jourdain quotes Horace Walpole who wrote that Kent (1685-1748) was 'not only consulted for furniture, glasses, tables, chairs etc, but for plate, for a barge, for a cradle'. She notes that his 'furniture is rich, florid, and monumental', continuing that 'Some examples of furniture by Kent` are figured in Vardy's Designs of Inigo Jones and Kent, and these, with authentic specimens at Houghton Hall and from Chiswick House, show some slight influence of Venetian work of the sixteenth century, but an even more marked Kentian flavour. In these pieces the enrichments and carved mouldings are very large in scale, and large foliations, masks and demi-figures are freely used' and that 'the scrolls supporting his side-tables are massive in the extreme. These stationary and monumental pieces are more successful in design than his moveables'. These words neatly encompass the spirit and form of Kent's work, his influence, if not actual his actual participation, being clearly evident in the present table.

The marble slab here, is supported on four sphinxes of sculptural quality, with an eagle to the front supporting in its beak garlands of oak leaves. The eagle, symbol of power and victory, was one of Jupiter's attributes, an augury of his victory over the Titans, the garlands of oak leaves from a tree sacred to him (see James Hall, Hall's Dictionary of Subjects & Symbols in Art, London 1974). These strong classical symbols were constant themes running through the work of the Palladians including Lord Burlington and William Kent. The eagle motif was incorporated in a tail-piece illustration provided by Kent for his companion Alexander Pope's translation of the Odyssey of 1725, which shows a pair of eagles on a table incorporating oak leaf garlands. An engraving for a Chandelier for The King also featured in Vardy's Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr William Kent, 1744.

Close comparison with the quality and fluidity of carving can be made with a related marble top table in the saloon at Houghton Hall, Norfolk (see Margaret Jourdain, The Work of William Kent, 1948, fig. 143) designed by Kent for Horace Walpole, 1726-1735. A side table supplied to George Lee, 2nd Earl of Litchfield for Ditchley House, Oxfordshire, circa 1730 (see Ralph Edwards and Percy Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1954 rev. ed., 3 vols., vol. III, p. 284, fig. 31), possibly to a design by William Kent or Henry Flitcroft, shares outward facing sphinxes linked by oak leaf garlands beneath an egg and dart entablature.

One of the most celebrated carvers associated with the execution of Kent's designs is James Richards, 'Master Sculptor and Carver in Wood' to the Board of Works. Richards (fl. 1721-d.1759) succeeded Grinling Gibbons to this important post in 1721, 'becoming one of the most accomplished carvers of the Palladian Years, working in particular for Colen Campbell and William Kent' (see The Burlington Magazine, October 1985, `Some English wood-carvers', Geoffrey Beard and Christopher pp.686-694) . Little is known of his early years, his first recorded commission being on the Rolls House in Chancery Lane where he worked under the direction of the architect Colen Campbell. Other commissions from Campbell included Compton Place and Burlington House, continuing to work for him after Campbell was replaced by William Kent in the service of Lord Burlington, at Houghton and Mereworth until Campbell's death in 1729. In 1726 Kent was appointed to the position of 'Master Carpenter to the Board of Works', in which capacity he was undoubtedly in a position to use Richards' talents as a master carver. Richards carried out carving work at Kew for Frederick, Prince of Wales in the early 1730s and also on another one of his most spectacular surviving commissions in 1732 for the Royal Barge. Designed by William Kent, the barge is described by Beard (see Beard op. cit.) as a 'work of consummate craftsmanship'. Displaying Kent's immense talents as a designer in the full Palladian style his wishes have been translated by Richards into a fantasy world of a small palace richly ornamented with fully sculptured mermaids, dolphins and other creatures of the sea.

Sotheby's. Important Furniture, Silver, Ceramics and Clocks. 07 Jul 09 03:00 PM. London www.sothebys.com