OF GEORGE II STYLE, LATE 19TH EARLY 20TH CENTURY

This 'Jupiter' eagle console table, appropriate for a 'Roman' banqueting hall, recalls Ovid's Metamorphoses of the history of the shepherd Ganymede who was born aloft by an eagle to serve as Jupiter's cup-bearer at the banquet of the Gods. The pattern may have been invented by Lord Burlington's protégé, the artist architect William Kent (d. 1748) who provided Roman eagles in his illustrations to Alexander Pope's 1725 translation of Homer's Odyssey. The Edinburgh cabinet-maker Francis Brodie featured a related eagle table on his tradesheet, published in 1739 (F. Bamford, Dictionary of Edinburgh Furniture-Makers, Leeds, 1983, pl. 24a). Tables with a secure 18th century provenance are rare, but a notable example is a pair of eagle console tables, originally at Glemham Hall, Suffolk and probably supplied to Dudley North circa 1725 following the remodelling of his recently purchased house. The latter pair of tables was sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 12 November 1998, lot 80. Another related single eagle console table was sold by the late Sir John Gooch, 12th Bt., Benacre Hall, Suffolk, Sotheby's house sale, 9-11 May 2000, lot 163. A pair of eagle console tables were sold anonymously, Christie's, London, 26 January 2006, lot 28.