A stand of carved softwood, with marine motifs. The stand is supported on a tripod carved as sea-horses, the stem of the stand with a twining sea monster, and the top surface carved as a flattened shell. The stand is silvered and varnished to appear golden, with some coloured varnishes.

Summary Description:
A tripod stand, carved, painted, silvered and gilded. The top is formed as a scalloped shell, supported on a carved shaft entwined by a sea-serpent. The base is formed of three stylised sea-horses with curling tails forming the feet.
Design:
The tray or top of the stand is shaped into the form of a scalloped shell. The base of the shell is carved out of a separate piece in the form of a watery leaf and curves over the tray. The underside of the 'shell' tray is painted and stained brown. The tray is supported on four branches emerging from the central trunk of a watery plant form. The trunk is entwined along its entire height by a green silvered and gilded sea-serpent with three short and shallow dorsal fins equally spaced along the length of the body and with a gaping mouth and protruding tongue. The eyes are painted in red with black pupils and the tongue in a lilac colour. The body is covered in hatch marks to resemble the rough scaly skin of a serpent. The tail flicks outwards towards the bottom of the trunk in the opposite direction to the head. The trunk and shell are also similarly hatched to give the surface a textured appearance. The trunk is supported by three adorssed sea-horses, each shaped into a reversed S form with upward scrolling tails which form the supporting feet of the whole stand. The sea-horses are similarly decorated with gilding, silvering and a green translucent glaze. Their eyes are painted in grey paint with a black pupil and the tongues in pink. The underside of the sea-horses are painted and stained brown.
Construction:
The whole stand is intended to appear as though carved from a single block of wood but is in fact made up of several carved sections which are presumably pinned and glued together. The actual structure is difficult to discern as most of the joints are not visible under the heavy layer of surface decoration. The shell tray appears to be carved in the solid except for the curving water leaf at its base which shows evidence of a glued joint, though this could possibly be a repair. The underside of the shell is roughly marked with chisel marks then overpained with brown paint. The shell tray and the four supporting branches are carved and joined separately. The branches have been tennoned into the trunk and into the underside of the shell. The sea-serpent and trunk appear to have been carved out together in the solid though joints may be covered up by the surface decoration. X-ray examination would be needed to be certain. The sea-horses are each separately carved in the solid. The lower dorsal fin of each is tennoned into the back of the body. The upper dorsal fin of each is attached, possibly glued, to the base of the central trunk. The tail of the sea horse below the sea-serpent's head has been broken and repaired with a modern steel screw. The surfaces of all three tails have areas of chipped and worn decoration
Silvering and Gilding:
The trunk, sea-serpent and shell tray appear to be silvered, though in some areas of the shell tray gold leaf is visible under the silver scheme. The sea-serpent is over- painted with a translucent green glaze. The tongue and eyes have been painted over the green glaze. It is not clear how the silver leaf has adhered to the white ground below or whether there in an intermediate pale bole present. The sea-horses appear to have gold leaf rather than silver and are then also covered in a greenish glaze.

Given by M.I. Horn

The stand was given to the Museum in 1934 by M. L. Horn Esq. through the antique dealers Messrs Chapman & Sons of 41 Blandford Street, London W1. Records state that Mr Horn had seen the stand in an un-named antique shop in 1934 and approached Chapman's to process the gift of the stand to the V&A. Mr Horn had already made several Gifts to other V&A Collections.

Similar stand sold at auction at Dorotheum, 12/13 October 2011, Lot 289.

This was traditionally identifies as German, c. 1760, by analogy with a similar stand in the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Berlin, attributed to Franconia. In 2015, however, Dr Christian Witt-Dörring, Vienna, sent copies of the 1904 catalogue of Pauly & Cie of Venice, in relation to this stand and the entries also relate to the chair (formerly identified as German, W. 2-1982). Item 3019 in that catalogue shows an identical chair and its production by this 'Fabrique de Verreries et Meubles Artistique' in Venice explains the occurence of the model so frequently in salerooms. This stand is close in nature to other pieces shown in the catalogue

Silvered and gilded furniture carved in the form of shells and incorporating dolphins, sea-horses and other mythological sea creatures are usually associated with the furnishing of 'grottos'. These outdoor or subterranean picturesque caves were artificially created using interesting rock formations, seashells and decorative micas and other minerals. They were fitted out with fountains and often contained matching furniture. Grottos appeared throughout Europe from the 16th century onwards and were used as fanciful retreats, particularly in the gardens of royal palaces. The fashion for 'grotto' furniture continued through the Rococo period, where scrolling C and S curve designs based on the shell were developed. It continued to be made in the 19th century. Stands like this would have formed part of a set including matching chairs.

W.41-1934