CIRCA 1810, IN THE MANNER OF MARSH AND TATHAM

The motif on the frieze is related to one found on a pair of side tables, attributed to Marsh & Tatham, and exhibited, until recently, in the Banqueting Room at the Royal Pavilion, Brighton (museum nos. DA 340437/8). The Royal Pavilion tables were formerly in the collection of the 6th Earl of Harewood at Chesterfield House, London, where one of them was photographed in the breakfast room in 1922 ('The Furnishing of Chesterfield House', The Furnishing Trades' Organiser, March 1922). This motif derives from plate 14, no. 3, of Thomas Hope’s Household Furniture (1807). Similar ornamentation occurs on a pair of bookcases supplied by George Bullock (1777-1818) for Napoleon’s use at Longwood House, St. Helena, in circa 1815 (illustrated in M. Levy, Napoleon in Exile, Leeds, 1998, p. 70, fig. 53). The deeply-carved zoomorphic supports of the present table recall another table attributed to Marsh & Tatham sold from Harewood House, Yorkshire, by Christie's, London, 4 July 2019, lot 129. Both Edward 'Beau' Lascelles and his father, the 1st Earl of Harewood were patrons of Marsh & Tatham in the early 19th century, as was the Prince of Wales (later George IV) at Carlton House (see W.H. Pyne, The history of the royal residences of Windsor Castle, St. James's Palace, Carlton House, and Frogmore, London, 1819, for a similar table in ‘The Circular Room’ at Carlton House).