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Side table

Table top by John Wildsmith
Stand by John Mayhew British
table top 1759, base 1794
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 514
The specimen-marble table top was supplied by John Wildsmith in 1759. Affluent Englishmen are known to have collected marble and pietre dure tabletops while visiting Italy on their grand tours. Lord Coventry never traveled to Italy, however, and this tabletop is a rare example of London manufacture, documented by the payment to the craftsman John Wildsmith in 1759. Wildsmith, who was also responsible for the marble mantelpiece in the tapestry room, inlaid 176 squares of differently colored hardstone specimens in a diagonal checkerboard pattern in order to display "all the curious sorts." The "large frame . . . on turned legs, neatly carved and the whole gilt in burnished gold" was supplied much later, in 1794, by the London firm of John Mayhew and William Ince.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Side table
  • Maker: Table top by John Wildsmith (active 1757–69)
  • Maker: Stand by John Mayhew (British, 1736–1811)
  • Date: table top 1759, base 1794
  • Culture: British, London
  • Medium: Carved and gilded pine; marbles, including rosso and nero antico, orange Veronese, yellow Siena, brown, gray, and white fleur de pêcher, black and gold Portor, orange and violet Spanish brocatello, and white Carrara, and hardstones, including gray and red granite, red and white jasper, pink quartz, porphyry, bloodstone, serpentine, golden and brown agate and onyx, and lapis lazuli
  • Dimensions: Overall table frame: H. 37 x W. 60 1/4 x D. 31 1/8in. (94 x 153 x 79.1cm);
    Overall table top (Wt. confirmed): H. 1 7/16 x W. 61 5/8 x D. 33 in., 423lb. (3.7 x 156.5 x 83.8 cm, 191.8715kg)
  • Classification: Woodwork-Furniture
  • Credit Line: Gift of Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1958
  • Object Number: 58.75.130a, b
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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