An Important Regency Period Giltwood Centre Table (c. 1810 English)

A Regency period carved giltwood and bronzed centre table, with archeological Romanesque panther monopodia.

In the manner of Thomas Hope, after the Vatican sketches of C. H. Tatham.

The most unusual and highly figured onyx top is of a later date.

Charles Heathcote Tatham (1772-1842), arrived in Rome in July 1794. He stayed for two years gathering material for his significant of designs of ancient ornamental architecture. While in Italy Tatham not only drew and sketched, he also bought a large number of antique fragments for his employer and mentor, Henry Holland (1745-1806) who was architect to the Prince of Wales. These fragments are now in the possession of the Soane Museum, London. Letters from Tatham to Henry Holland, describing this period of his life in Rome, can be examined in the V&A 's Print Room (museum nos. D.1479 to1551-1898).

Tatham's book, Etchings of Ancient Ornamental Architecture drawn from the Originals in Rome and other Parts of Italy..., was an immediate success. A second and third edition were issued in 1803 and 1810 respectively, and the style of linear engravings it employed was copied by Thomas Hope in Household Furniture and Interior Decoration... (1807).

Having recently visited the Vatican, I was able to look at the very same examples that Tatham sketched, which formed the inspiration for this table. With reference to his Etchings, it is a pure extended form of the 'Antique Tripod of oriental Alabaster', with decoration and expression taken from the 'Grand antique Tripod of verde-antique marble'.