A GEORGE II GILTWOOD EAGLE CONSOLE TABLE

This 'Jupiter' eagle console table, appropriate for a 'Roman' banqueting hall, recalls Ovid's Metamorphoses of the history of the shepherd Ganymede who was borne aloft by an eagle to serve as Jupiter's attendant at the banquet of the Gods. The pattern may have been invented by Lord Burlington's protégé, the artist architect William Kent (d. 1748), who provided Roman eagles in his illustrations for Alexander Pope's 1725 translation of Homer's Odyssey.

The Edinburgh cabinet-maker Francis Brodie featured a related eagle table on his tradesheet, published in 1739 (F. Bamford, Dictionary of Edinburgh Furniture-Makers, Leeds, 1983, pl. 24a). Eagle consoles with a secure 18th century provenance are rare, but a notable example is a pair, originally at Glemham Hall, Suffolk and probably supplied to Dudley North about 1725, following his remodelling of his recently purchased house. These were sold anonymously Christie’s, New York, 13 April, 2016, lot 30 ($245,000 including premium). Another related single eagle console table was sold by the late Sir John Gooch, 12th Bt., Benacre Hall, Suffolk, Sotheby's house sale, 9-11 May 2000, lot 163 (£10,800 with premium).