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Lot Essay
Ashford marble is in reality a type of limestone rather than a marble, produced from two quarries near Ashford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire, and which when polished takes on a deep glossy black lustre.
Its earliest recorded use is in fireplaces at Hardwick Hall in the 1590s, and it continued to be used thereafter in ornamental and architectural work. Glover's History and Gazetteer of Derbyshire (1829) refers to marble works at Ashford and Derby, where the material 'is wrought into articles of domestic elegance and into monuments, chimney pieces are sold at various prices, from 30s to upwards of £60, and beautiful tables of black marble, enriched with elegant engravings, are also made there'. At this time the marble was either etched or engraved.
The stone found spectacular favour from the 1830s when William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1858), an important collector of mineral specimens and patron of the local craftsmen, used Ashford marble in massive doorways in a new wing at Chatsworth. W. Adam, then working at (and later to manage) John Mawe's establishment at Matlock, claimed to have revolutionised the inlaying of black marble; he published his Gem of the Peak in 1838 (1st ed.), which described Florentine mosaic or Pietra Dura in intricate floral and geometric patterns, and he supplied a `magnificent table ... inlaid with a wreath of flowers and foliage' to Queen Victoria for Windsor Castle by 1842. Local craftsmen rapidly adopted the designs and techniques promoted by Adam, using other locally-mined and imported minerals and workshops were established in Matlock, Bakewell, Buxton and Castleton - all busy tourist centres with a constant demand for souvenirs such as vases, clock cases, candlesticks and ink stands.
Numerous examples of inlaid Ashford marble wares were exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851, amongst them a circular table by John Tomlinson, displaying `a wreath of flowers and leaves in their natural colours...... entirely formed of the spars of Derbyshire' (Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of of the Great Exhibition, 1851, p.111). Another craftsman working in the same oeuvre was Samuel Birley, who won three medals at the 1862 London International Exhibition, including for a table now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (157-1864).
A closely related table with the same pattern of base and described as in the manner of Samuel Birley was sold anonymously Sotheby's, London, 5 March 2008, lot 115 (£38,900 including premium).
Its earliest recorded use is in fireplaces at Hardwick Hall in the 1590s, and it continued to be used thereafter in ornamental and architectural work. Glover's History and Gazetteer of Derbyshire (1829) refers to marble works at Ashford and Derby, where the material 'is wrought into articles of domestic elegance and into monuments, chimney pieces are sold at various prices, from 30s to upwards of £60, and beautiful tables of black marble, enriched with elegant engravings, are also made there'. At this time the marble was either etched or engraved.
The stone found spectacular favour from the 1830s when William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1858), an important collector of mineral specimens and patron of the local craftsmen, used Ashford marble in massive doorways in a new wing at Chatsworth. W. Adam, then working at (and later to manage) John Mawe's establishment at Matlock, claimed to have revolutionised the inlaying of black marble; he published his Gem of the Peak in 1838 (1st ed.), which described Florentine mosaic or Pietra Dura in intricate floral and geometric patterns, and he supplied a `magnificent table ... inlaid with a wreath of flowers and foliage' to Queen Victoria for Windsor Castle by 1842. Local craftsmen rapidly adopted the designs and techniques promoted by Adam, using other locally-mined and imported minerals and workshops were established in Matlock, Bakewell, Buxton and Castleton - all busy tourist centres with a constant demand for souvenirs such as vases, clock cases, candlesticks and ink stands.
Numerous examples of inlaid Ashford marble wares were exhibited in the Great Exhibition of 1851, amongst them a circular table by John Tomlinson, displaying `a wreath of flowers and leaves in their natural colours...... entirely formed of the spars of Derbyshire' (Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of of the Great Exhibition, 1851, p.111). Another craftsman working in the same oeuvre was Samuel Birley, who won three medals at the 1862 London International Exhibition, including for a table now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum (157-1864).
A closely related table with the same pattern of base and described as in the manner of Samuel Birley was sold anonymously Sotheby's, London, 5 March 2008, lot 115 (£38,900 including premium).