A PAIR OF GEORGE III SIDE TABLES, LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Probably supplied to Robert Clements, 1st Earl of Leitrim (1732-1804)

Inventory, 10th February 1812 (manuscript addition 1829), '2 oriental alabaster Tables inlaid with black marble on Mahogany stands' in the Passage leading to the Offices;

Inventory, April 1830, 'One Oriental Alabaster Table inlaid with Black Marble on Mahogany Frame' in Passage Leading to the Principal Staircase and 'One Oriental Alabaster Table inlaid with Black Marble on Mahogany Frame' on Best Staircase;

Inventory, 27th June 1836, 'Two oriental alabaster tables, inlaid in black marble, upon carved mahogany stands in upper lobby' in Lobby on Bedroom Floor.

The present tables are described as 'oriental' in the 1812 and subsequent inventories on account of the Chinese-style pierced fret brackets now largely lacking to each leg. Interestingly, a sarcophagus-form mahogany centre table, signed and dated ‘S. O’Connor / Dublin 1775’, bears a similarly gadrooned black Galway marble top (see The Knight of Glin and James Peill, Irish Furniture, Yale, 2007, p. 241, fig. 157). For a similar pair of panelled Ashford marble and fluorspar tops, see those in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth which are possibly recorded in a list of furniture moved to Devonshire House from Burlington House in 1811/1812 and described as 'Two inlaid Derbyshire (marble tables) on white frames'.