A CARVED PINE AND MARBLE MOUNTED CONSOLE TABLE

The original design of the early 18th century eagle-supported pier-table is associated with Lord Burlington's protege, the artist/architect William Kent (d.1748). In 1725, Kent featured Roman eagles in his illustrations for Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's epic The Odyssey, recounting the history of Rome's foundation after the Trojan wars. Kent used scenes from The Odyssey in the ceiling of Roman mosaic to decorate George I's apartment at Kensington Palace.