The Platten Hall Silver Table
This magnificent table has been rediscovered after decades lost, and is one of the finest examples of a mid 18th Century Irish mahogany tea table. Hailing from the great Irish Georgian estate - Platten Hall, County Meath - the top has a solid gallery with raised lipped corners, with a particularly slender apron centred by a boldly carved mask of Apollo, flanked by laurel swags (leaves sacred to the God). The sides are centred by carved shells, with dotted ‘lozenge’ trellis work to the ground of the frieze. Continued evidence of the cabinetmaker’s exceptional hand, alongside the multitude of intricately and confidently carved details, are shown on further textural gestures such as the carved acanthus carved knees - framed and on ‘pricked’ ground - the surface of which gives an appearance of a tailor’s preparation for stitching, and often seen on the finest examples of Irish furniture from the period. The form of this table has a graceful strength and noble posture, heightened by the quality and depth of mahogany timber, which retains its original and untouched patina and surface quality. It is a magnificently rare, and highly important example of its type. (There is an affixed paper label to the under side rail (presumably an inventory label from the Gradwell family of Platten Hall), water damaged over time but faintly and delicately notated in hand; Antique … table / … 150 years old / Mrs Gradwell / Platten Hall)
Height: 28 1⁄4 in; 72 cm
Width: 32 1⁄4 in; 82 cm
Depth: 23 3/4; 60 cm
Literature:
The Knight of Glin, Irish Furniture, 2007, p. 116 fig. 156.
£POA
This magnificent table has been rediscovered after decades lost, and is one of the finest examples of a mid 18th Century Irish mahogany tea table. Hailing from the great Irish Georgian estate - Platten Hall, County Meath - the top has a solid gallery with raised lipped corners, with a particularly slender apron centred by a boldly carved mask of Apollo, flanked by laurel swags (leaves sacred to the God). The sides are centred by carved shells, with dotted ‘lozenge’ trellis work to the ground of the frieze. Continued evidence of the cabinetmaker’s exceptional hand, alongside the multitude of intricately and confidently carved details, are shown on further textural gestures such as the carved acanthus carved knees - framed and on ‘pricked’ ground - the surface of which gives an appearance of a tailor’s preparation for stitching, and often seen on the finest examples of Irish furniture from the period. The form of this table has a graceful strength and noble posture, heightened by the quality and depth of mahogany timber, which retains its original and untouched patina and surface quality. It is a magnificently rare, and highly important example of its type. (There is an affixed paper label to the under side rail (presumably an inventory label from the Gradwell family of Platten Hall), water damaged over time but faintly and delicately notated in hand; Antique … table / … 150 years old / Mrs Gradwell / Platten Hall)
Height: 28 1⁄4 in; 72 cm
Width: 32 1⁄4 in; 82 cm
Depth: 23 3/4; 60 cm
Literature:
The Knight of Glin, Irish Furniture, 2007, p. 116 fig. 156.
£POA
This magnificent table has been rediscovered after decades lost, and is one of the finest examples of a mid 18th Century Irish mahogany tea table. Hailing from the great Irish Georgian estate - Platten Hall, County Meath - the top has a solid gallery with raised lipped corners, with a particularly slender apron centred by a boldly carved mask of Apollo, flanked by laurel swags (leaves sacred to the God). The sides are centred by carved shells, with dotted ‘lozenge’ trellis work to the ground of the frieze. Continued evidence of the cabinetmaker’s exceptional hand, alongside the multitude of intricately and confidently carved details, are shown on further textural gestures such as the carved acanthus carved knees - framed and on ‘pricked’ ground - the surface of which gives an appearance of a tailor’s preparation for stitching, and often seen on the finest examples of Irish furniture from the period. The form of this table has a graceful strength and noble posture, heightened by the quality and depth of mahogany timber, which retains its original and untouched patina and surface quality. It is a magnificently rare, and highly important example of its type. (There is an affixed paper label to the under side rail (presumably an inventory label from the Gradwell family of Platten Hall), water damaged over time but faintly and delicately notated in hand; Antique … table / … 150 years old / Mrs Gradwell / Platten Hall)
Height: 28 1⁄4 in; 72 cm
Width: 32 1⁄4 in; 82 cm
Depth: 23 3/4; 60 cm
Literature:
The Knight of Glin, Irish Furniture, 2007, p. 116 fig. 156.
£POA