Table
ca. 1870 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
John Jones, an avid British collector of French eighteenth-century furniture and porcelain, who bought this table between about 1870 and 1880, thought he was buying a table that had been made in Paris a century earlier. Painted porcelain plaques and plaques of hardstones were very attractive to Victorian collectors of French eighteenth-century furniture.
However, the table is narrower than most eighteenth-century tables and the combination of hardstones (pietre dure) with porcelain is most unusual. It now seems likely that the table was made up only a few years before Jones bought it, using earlier materials. The hardstone panels were probably made in Florence between about 1660 and 1690, but the painted porcelain plaque had probably only recently been made in Paris. The painted decoration imitates the plaques made by the Sèvres porcelain factory just outside Paris between about 1770 and 1790.
However, the table is narrower than most eighteenth-century tables and the combination of hardstones (pietre dure) with porcelain is most unusual. It now seems likely that the table was made up only a few years before Jones bought it, using earlier materials. The hardstone panels were probably made in Florence between about 1660 and 1690, but the painted porcelain plaque had probably only recently been made in Paris. The painted decoration imitates the plaques made by the Sèvres porcelain factory just outside Paris between about 1770 and 1790.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Mozambique rosewood in the solid and veneered on oak, with veneers of ebony, set with plaques of hardstones and porcelain; mounts of gilt bronze |
| Brief description | table, Italian, 1770-80 |
| Physical description | A narrow centre table, of rectangular plan, raised on four tapering legs, veneered in Mozambique rosewood and ebony on a carcase of oak, the legs in solid Mozambique rosewood, the sides set with plaques of hardstone and with one plaque of porcelain; the mounts of gilt bronze |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Marks and inscriptions | 565 (Stamped on the inside of the back moulding and the left-hand (proper right) moulding round the top.) |
| Credit line | Bequeathed by John Jones |
| Object history | In the collection of John Jones before 1882 |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | John Jones, an avid British collector of French eighteenth-century furniture and porcelain, who bought this table between about 1870 and 1880, thought he was buying a table that had been made in Paris a century earlier. Painted porcelain plaques and plaques of hardstones were very attractive to Victorian collectors of French eighteenth-century furniture. However, the table is narrower than most eighteenth-century tables and the combination of hardstones (pietre dure) with porcelain is most unusual. It now seems likely that the table was made up only a few years before Jones bought it, using earlier materials. The hardstone panels were probably made in Florence between about 1660 and 1690, but the painted porcelain plaque had probably only recently been made in Paris. The painted decoration imitates the plaques made by the Sèvres porcelain factory just outside Paris between about 1770 and 1790. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 1016-1882 |
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| Record created | October 19, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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