Each with later verde antico marble veneered top resting on a foliate carved frieze surmounting entwined dolphins beneath a central scalloped shell, all raised on plinth
34¹⁄₄ in. (87 cm.) high, 37¹⁄₄ in. (94.5 cm.) wide, 22¹⁄₂ in. (57 cm.) deep

Sir John Ramsden Bt. Bulstrode, Gerrard's Cross, Buckinghamshire 1932.
Acquired from Partridge, London, 1994.

R. Edwards and P. Macquoid, The Dictionary of English Furniture, 1924, Vol. III, London, p. 287, fig. 42.

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Lot Essay

Console tables incorporating large-scale dolphin motifs, designed in the George II Roman fashion popularized by the Rome-trained artist William Kent (d.1748), evoke the triumph of Venus with embowed dolphins in the manner of Kent's 'fountain' tail-piece illustrating Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's, Odyssey, 1725/6, see M. Wilson, William Kent, 1984, fig. 18. Similar tables designed for Kensington Palace under the direction of Kent in his role as 'Master Carpenter' to King George II's Architectural Board of Works, also featured the nature diety's shell, see D. Watkin, The Royal Interiors of Regency England, London, 1984, p. 67.
The prototype for console tables with dolphin supports in England was possibly invented by the architect Henry Flitcroft, Clerk to the Board of Works, under the direction of William Kent (d. 1748), for John, 2nd Duke of Montagu (d. 1749). Flitcroft supervised the building and furnishing of Montagu's residence at Privy Gardens, Whitehall Palace. A group of Palladian furniture is known to have been removed from Whitehall to Montagu's house at Boughton, Northamptonshire, which may have included such Dolphin pier tables. These tables, which remain at Boughton, are attributed to Flitcroft and Benjamin Goodison (d. 1767). Payments to Goodison from Montagu appear in the Boughton accounts from 1737-1742, see T. Murdoch, ed., Boughton House, 1992, p. 135, fig. 136, n. 27. Goodison is also known to have supplied a 'carved and gilt dolphin frame to match another' to George Brudenell, 4th Earl of Cardigan (d. 1790) in 1741, who also employed Flitcroft as architect for his London residence in Dover Street in 1732. Related examples sold are: a pair possibly formerly at Rushbrooke Hall, Suffolk and sold anonymously, Christie's, New York, 20 January 1995, lot 452 ($189,500); a single table from the collection of Sir John Ramsden, Bt. and illustrated in P. Macquoid & R. Edwards, Dictionary of English Furniture, 1954, rev. ed., Vol. III, p. 287, fig. 42 and its pair sold from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 7 May 1960, lot 490; a single table illustrated by Partridge, Summer Exhibition, 1990, no. 13; a single table was sold by the late O. V. Watney, Esq., Cornbury Park, Christie's, London, 22 May 1967, lot 15; and another single table was offered by the 10th Duke of Northumberland's Will Trust, Sotheby's at Syon House, 14-16 May 1997, lot 32.

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