A late Victorian pitch pine console table after Linnell

A late Victorian pitch pine console table after Linnell, the rectangular top set upon a frieze carved with Vitruvian scrolls and surmounted by a painted faux marble top, all raised upon six powerful cabriole scroll legs carved with acanthus leaves on the knees above scale pattern panels.  English, circa 1900.

Footnote: This six legged design relates to a group of 18th century tables that are now attributed to the maker William Linnell (1703-1763) and made around 1741.  These tables exist in a number of very fine country houses, one having been pictured in Castle Hill in Devon by Country Life on 24^th March 1934 for example.  The reason for the attribution to Linnell is a documented table supplied to the Hoare family at Stourhead circa 1741 which has been identified with near certainty on a bill submitted by Linnell in 1742 and preserved in the family archives in Wiltshire, please see the National Trust collections object 731595.

Tables of this design seem to have always been highly prized.  Consequently, versions of this model were also made in the 19^th century, either to make matched pairs with 18^th century tables or purely in their own right.  Edwards and Sons of Regent Street advertised a pair in the magazine Old Furniture in February 1928 while a single dated 1820 was advertised by the dealer Carr van Cutsem in the Antique Dealer and Collectors’ Guide, February 1973.

Often described as somehow Kentian in design, there is no known direct evidence that William Kent was involved in the design of these tables.  However, William Linnell is known to have been involved in some of Kent’s commissions and he may have taken influences from some of Kent’s work when working on this series of pieces.