An Indo-Dutch ebony side table, India, Coromandel coast, circa 1660-80

of rectangular form, composed of a case and a stand, the case comprising a plain top with gadrooned border and two drawers to the front with knob handles, the front panels of the drawers, the sides and back of the case with scrolling foliate decoration, an old exhibition label to inside of left drawer 'Art Treasures Exhibition, Wrexham, 1876, Duke of Westminster, Eaton, Proprietor.', the stand with four legs, an apron and a box stretcher, the upper section of the stand and the tops of the legs with scrolling foliate decoration, the carved and pierced apron with a central winged cherub’s head, lions, mythical creatures and parrots, the legs twist-turned, on turned disc feet

76.3 by 94.5 by 67.5cm. (30 by 37¼by 26 5/8in.)

Provenance

Acquired by Horace Walpole, 4^th Earl of Orford (1717-97) between 1759 and 1763

Collection of Horace Walpole at Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, until 1842

George Robins, A Catalogue of the Classic Contents of Strawberry Hill collected by Horace Walpole, London, Covent Garden, 13 May 1842, lot 77

Acquired from the above by Robert Grosvenor, the 1^st Marquess of Westminster (1767-1845) for Eaton Hall, Cheshire; thence by descent through the Dukes of Westminster until 1960

Perez & Co., London, 1960-61

Acquired by Cary Welch from Perez and Co., London, 1960-61

(for further information on the provenance see discussion below)

Literature

G. Robins, A Catalogue of the Classic Contents of Strawberry Hill collected by Horace Walpole, 25 April-24 May 1842, p.176, lot 77

W. Chaffers, Catalogue of the Museum of Ornamental Art at the Art Treasures Exhibition, Wrexham, 1876, no.143

A. Jaffer, Furniture from British India and Ceylon, London, 2001, p.139

Exhibited

Art Treasures Exhibition, Wrexham, England, 1876 (loaned to the exhibition by the Duke of Westminster)

Catalogue note

This superbly carved table is a highly important example of Coromandel Coast ebony furniture and represents a fascinating aspect of English aristocratic taste in the 18^th century. According to Robert Skelton and Amin Jaffer, it was owned by Horace Walpole (1717-97), the great 18^th century antiquarian, writer and politician, and was part of the extraordinary contents of his famous neo-Gothic masterpiece Strawberry Hill.

This table, with its richly carved and pierced ebony decoration, twist-turned elements, and dense scrolling designs comprising Christian and Hindu iconography, is typical of a group of furniture made along the Coromandel Coast in southern India under Dutch patronage in the second half of the 17th century. The pierced apron of the table features both Christian and Hindu motifs with a winged cherub’s head at the centre, flanked by figures of lions and mythical creatures (half-lion and half bird), and with parrots at the corners. In his text, Furniture from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India (Delft, 1985), Jan Veenendaal discusses and dates carved ebony furniture with low-relief carving and pierced decoration to between 1650 and1680.

However, in the 18th and most of the 19th century, carved ebony furniture of this type was thought to be early English in origin, specifically from the Tudor period. This theory was due to the dark colour, which gave the group an antiquated look, and the style: the rectilinear forms and intricate carving of figures and mythical beasts was associated with the period prior to the introduction of classical ornament in English design, and the use of twist-turning was associated with Elizabethan furniture (Jaffer 2001, p.130). This attribution was influenced by the English antiquarian Horace Walpole, 4^th Earl of Orford (1717-97), as he had come across various examples of this type in English houses with Tudor associations. In 1748 Walpole saw carved ebony chairs at Esher Place in Surrey and thought they had belonged to Cardinal Wolsey, who had lived there from 1519-29. Henry Shaw included a chair of this type in Specimens of Ancient Furniture, published between 1832 and 1836 and in 1834, A.W.N. Pugin included a carved ebony chair of this type in his drawings of ‘Ancient Furniture’. These books perpetuated the view that the chairs were English and of early date (ibid, p.46). An alternative attribution linked furniture of this general type with Indo-Portuguese manufacture. This was partly due again to Henry Shaw’s ‘Specimens of Ancient Furniture’ of 1832-36, which included a pair of carved ebony chairs in the Ashmolean Museum which had been presented by King Charles II and were thought to have been part of the dowry of his wife, Catherine of Braganza, brought from Portugal in 1662 (Jaffer 2001, p.132).

Horace Walpole’s interest in this type of furniture led him to acquire several pieces for Strawberry Hill, the Gothic Revival villa he built near Twickenham, west of London, including three tables and a considerable number of chairs. He purchased these mainly from auction, including a sale at Staughton House, Huntingdonshire, in May 1763, which he described in a letter to George Montagu Esq.: “…I believe I am the first person that ever went sixty miles to an auction. As I came for ebony, I have been up to my chin in ebony; there is literally nothing but ebony in the house; …. There are two tables and eighteen chairs, all made by the Hallet of two hundred years ago. These I intend to have; for mind, the auction does not begin till Thursday…. but I have left commission…” (Walpole-Cunningham 1857, p.88). The footnote to this letter states “The eight very fine ebony chairs at Strawberry Hill were bought at the Lady Conyers’ [sale] at Great Stoughton, Huntingdonshire” (Walpole-Cunningham 1857, p.88).

By the time of the Staughton auction however, Walpole had already bought his first ebony table and chairs, in 1759, and these were used to furnish the Holbein Chamber at Strawberry Hill (Jaffer 2001, pp.130, 138-9). It is this table that is believed to be the present example. The table in the Holbein Chamber was mentioned by Walpole in his 1784 description of Strawberry Hill (Walpole 1784, p.43), and the Holbein Chamber was illustrated in a watercolour by the artist John Carter dated to 1788 (now in the Lewis Walpole Library at Yale University), where the table can be seen on the left, next to the associated chairs (see Jaffer 2001, p.130; the table in the illustration appears to have bulky feet, which ours does not; however, close inspection of our table indicates that the lower parts of the four legs have been cut down, which would account for the discrepancy).

The 1842 sale of the contents of Strawberry Hill was conducted by George Robins of Covent Garden and lasted twenty-four days, from 25 April to 24 May.