Estimate

25.000 - 30.000

Session 1

20 July 2026

Hammer Price

Description

Mahogany, marbles and other ornamental stones

The "Chinese Chippendale" mahogany base with square chamfered legs and pierced fretwork brackets

The Italian specimen top, possibly Roman, inset with one hundred and sixty-four samples of marbles, breccias and hardstones arranged in a grid on a black ground, centred by a chessboard in giallo di Siena and rosso antico, including malachite, lapis lazuli, portoro, red porphyry, giallo antico, verde antico, alabastro cotognino and various "marmi antichi", within a white marble border

England / Italy, second half 18th century and first half 19th century

(minor faults and signs of wear)

86x126x62 cm

Additional Information

The restrained design of the base is characteristic of the output of Gillows of Lancaster & London in the last quarter of the 18th century. The Gillows association is further supported by the firm's documented practice of supplying stands for marble tops acquired by English patrons during the Grand Tour. Compare a closely related table attributed to Gillows, with provenance from Mere Hall, Cheshire, sold at Christie's, London, "Important English Furniture", 1 July 2004, lot 115.

The top belongs to the Roman tradition of specimen tops arranged in a grid on a black ground, produced for the Grand Tour market from the late 18th century onwards. The abundance of banded oriental alabasters and Sicilian jasper breccias, together with the malachite and lapis lazuli, is consistent with Roman production of the first half of the 19th century, when these varieties circulated widely on the scalpellini market, although the type is equally documented in 18th-century tops.