Fig. 1: Console table in the Royal Collection attributed to Goodison, for the Prince of Wales, c. 1732-3, RCIN 1195
Fig. 2: Detail of the royal console table showing the vegetal-carved and fluted frieze and the scrolled leg with acanthus and discs, RCIN 1195
The present table photographed in situ in Dewlish House, Dorset
A GEORGE II GILTWOOD TABLE ATTRIBUTED TO BENJAMIN GOODISON AND WILLIAM KENT
W: 48" / 122cm
D: 25” / 65cm
Further images
Provenance
Acquired by Anthony Boyden in the 1960s or 1970s for Dewlish House, Dorset
Literature
Desmond Shawe-Taylor and Wolf Burchard, The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760 (London: 2014)
Susan Weber, William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain (Yale: 2013), pp. 453-460, figs. 17.8 & 17.21
The design of the present table is almost certainly the work of William Kent, this combination of scrolled S-schaped supports, acanthus leaves, fish scales and disc-type decoration being unique to him in England, derived from the Roman baroque furniture which he studied during his time in Italy between 1709 and 1719.1
This precise design can be seen on Kent's table and seat furniture for Chiswick House, Hampton Court Palace and Devonshire House, with closely related designs elsehwere. Carved fish scales, Kent’s trademark, was derived directly from Italian models, though more from Italian silver than furniture.2
A possible author of the present table is cabinet-maker Benjamin Goodison, who collaborately extensively with Kent on many of his most important projects. The table is nearly identical to a console supplied to Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-51), in 1732-3 for £3.10s. 0d. (RCIN 1195) with which Goodison is associated. The table is not connected to a specific bill, but the Wardrobe accounts record that Goodison supplied furniture to Windsor, Kew, Kensington and St. James’s Palace and he was likely well-known to the royal family through his master James Moore who supplied various console tables to George I in the 1720s.3
The royal table features the same frieze carved with foliage and fluting and scrolled legs with a large acanthus leaf, discs and distinctive block feet as the present table. Constructed in walnut, oak and pine it was almost certainly intended for use in the private apartments of George II or Frederick, Prince of Wales, as more expensive and prized gilded and marbled pieces such as the present example will have been on view in the State Rooms.
The table retains an old, possibly the original, breche violetta marble top.
1 Susan Weber, William Kent: Designing Georgian Britain (Yale: 2013), pp. 455-6, fig. 17.12
2 Ibid., p. 60, fig. 17:21; pp. 480-7, figs. 18.16, 23, 25; p. 503, fig. 18.48
3 Desmond Shawe-Taylor and Wolf Burchard, The First Georgians: Art and Monarchy 1714-1760 (London: 2014)