Side Table

While the 18th-century painter combined oil paints on the canvas, the pietre dure (hardstone) artist looked to the abundant palette of semi-precious stones to laboriously form a virtually permanent image. Echoing the themes, styles, compositions and palettes expressed in painting, elaborate designs of nature were "painted" with stone. This table's curvilinear forms of scrolls, shells and foliage illustrate the Rococo style popular in 18th-century England and the continent. Belonging to the Whitmore family of Apley, England, as indicated by the falcon family crest painted on the table's carved base, this marble top may have been commissioned during a Grand Tour. This extended journey through the ancient and modern sites of continental Europe was considered essential to a cultured man's education.