PAIR OF GEORGE III MAHOGANY DOVE GREY MARBLE TOPPED SIDE TABLES, ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES BLAIKIE
CIRCA 1769
£30,200
Auction: Select Property from Penicuik House, Midlothian - 27th March 2024 at 10am
Description
the rectangular Italian dove grey marble tops over cushion moulded and fluted friezes marked with carved flowerhead blocks, and raised on chamfered blind-fret carved legs with pierced corner brackets and ending in block feet (2)
Dimensions
169cm wide, 91cm high, 77cm deep
Provenance
Sir James Clerk, 3rd Baronet of Penicuik (1709 – 1782), Penicuik House, Midlothian. Thence by descent
Footnote
Note: In 1764 John Baxter, the son of Penicuik House's architect John Baxter, senior, was sent to Rome by Sir James to study, and while there he was tasked with sourcing marble chimneypieces, slabs of marble for table tops, and advising on the selection of lifesize classical marble statuary to grace the interiors of Penicuik House whose decoration was carrying on apace. Correspondence between Sir James and the younger Baxter culminated in September 1767 when Sir James sent the final payment of £67 3s 9d "which compleats the payt. of Chimnys, Statues and Tables of Leghorn'. This last reference probably describes slabs of marble to be used for tables once shipped back to Scotland, and would certainly have included the two ‘Dove coloured Slabs for tables’ which he mentions in his accounts in February, 1769. Sir James would have then relied on his principle carpenter James Blaikie with the construction of the table frames. As with other furniture commissioned for the house, there is no evidence to suggest that Blaikie made the table bases himself, but instead would have acted as agent and outsourced their construction to a trusted Edinburgh cabinetmaker. The tables' design is clearly taken from plate LVII of Thomas Chippendale's Director, and clearly shows the influence of current London fashion all the while eschewing London makers.