A REGENCY MAHOGANY PLINTH

The design for this plinth relates directly to a design by Thomas Hope (1769-1831) for a dining room pedestal, published in A Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807, plate XXIV, no. 6, which he noted as being 'imitated from an Etruscan altar in the villa Borgese'. The plan (or cross-section from above) of this pedestal was also published as plate 55, no. 2. At some point this pedestal was adapted to form a stool, and carving was added to what had been the fourth uncarved side, originally intended to be placed against the wall in a dining room.