A PAIR OF ITALIAN CIPPOLINO MARBLE TERM-PEDESTALS

These polychrome marble 'term' pedestals designed in the 18th century, after antique prototypes, can be compared with those supplied for William Kent's palatial stone hall which forms the centerpiece of the interiors he designed for Houghton Hall, the Norfolk home of Britain's first Prime, Minister Sir Robert Walpole. Kent used contrasting marbles to great effect throughout the interiors at Houghton, which he designed between 1725-35, in a series of magnificent chimneypieces installed in the principal rooms, and perhaps most notably in the marble parlor where the walls are lined with a combination of rare indigenous and Italian marbles centred on Michael Rysbracks's sculptural panel flanked by Kent's equally remarkable polychrome marble tables.