A PAIR OF 'KENTIAN' GILTWOOD SIDE TABLES

Conceived as a marble-topped sideboard-tables, their golden frames reflect the George II 'Roman' fashion promoted by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington through his protigé, the Rome-trained architect and designer William Kent (d. 1748). The latter's contribution as 'Master Carpenter' of George II's Board of Works was celebrated by his colleague John Vardy's Some Designs of Mr Inigo Jones and Mr William Kent, 1744. Related sideboards were supplied under Kent's direction for Houghton Hall and Raynham Hall, Norfolk (M. Jourdain, The Work of William Kent, London, 1948, figs. 138 and 65).