A PAIR OF GEORGE II GILT-MAHOGANY PIER TABLES

This pair of tables, originally made as one centre pedestal, follows closely William Kent's (d. 1748) design for a table for the 3rd Earl of Burlington's villa, Chiswick House, London. The design was published in John Vardy's Some Designs of Mr. Inigo Jones and Mr. William Kent, 1744 (see P. Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century, London, 1958, p. 15, fig. 15). One of the Chiswick tables is illustrated in O. Brackett, 'Notable Collections: The Decoration and Furniture of Devonshire House - Part II', The Connoisseur, April 1920, p. 212.

Gilding tests have revealed traces of an oil polish beneath the present scheme, suggesting that the pedestal was originally polished mahogany. It may have been further decorated with parcel-gilding to the highlights as seen to other important William Kent designed furniture, such as the 'owl desks' also commissioned by Lord Burlington for the Garden Room at Chiswick House and carved by John Boson (see S. Webber ed., William Kent - Designing Georgian Britain, New Haven & London, 2014, p. 507, fig. 18.53.).