Fine Console Table In The Rococo Style After The Pair From Buxted Park

An impressive and opulent mahogany console table inspired by the Rococo designs of Matthias Lock having a simulated marble top.

Probably English circa 1930-40.

This exuberantly carved faded mahogany console table is in the mid 18th century rococo style, having a simulated marbled top which sits upon a fine rectangular frieze with egg and dart-moulding, carved paterae and strap work over a flower-festooned scrolling apron centred on a cartouche on scrolled legs with a shell-carved stretcher which in turn rests upon two tapering toupie feet of square section.

The table is clearly based on a pair that were formerly in the famous Ionides collection at Buxted Park in Sussex. These tables, later sold to the Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle where they can be seen to this day, were bought at the Ionides sale by the great dealers Biggs of Maidenhead who advertised them in Country Life on the 31st of December that same year. They were also advertised in the September 1964 issue of Connoisseur Magazine (image reproduced below). The Ionides collection at Buxted was one of the finest collections formed in the 20th century and pieces from Buxted are in museums and the finest private collections worldwide.

Another table of this model, of George II period, was sold at Christie's on the 24th of October 2017, lot 37, for $93,750.

This wonderful table is a textbook example of fine carving informed by designs of the early French rococo masters but with a very English flavour. The table relates precisely to a drawing by Matthias Lock, one of the most skillful of all the English furniture designers in the rococo idiom, which is held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O502123/print-lock-m/

It is difficult to say with any certainty where the table would have been made as the taste for English furniture in this style enjoys such popularity around the world,it is most likely English. If the origins of the piece are unclear, its quality is obvious even to the casual observer. This is a very fine piece of furniture that is incredibly well made and of extremely decorative form. A real talking point for any interior.

Width: 62 1/2 inches - 159cm
Height: 41 3/4 inches - 106cm
Depth: 23 inches - 59cm