The table illustrated in Francis Lenygon, Furniture in England from 1660 to 1760, 1914, p. 124, fig. 193
THE ESMOND BRADLEY MARTIN TABLE, English, circa 1730
Width: 55 ½ in; 141 cm
Depth: 30 ¾ in; 78 cm
Further images
A George II grey painted console table attributed to William Kent.
Note: The table retains much of the original paint surface and the original marble top.
In its early years, Country Life magazine focused on the furnishings of country houses in England. This eagle table was featured in an article researched and written by Margaret Jourdain that was published in 1911 in the first issue to use colour photography, a groundbreaking development at the time. The innovation was shortlived, however, and was suspended after the outbreak of the First World War. Colour was not reintroduced until fifty years later.
The table appears in the 1990 Hollywood film Reversal of Fortune, telling the real-life story of Claus von Bulow and starring Jeremy Irons and Glenn Close.
Provenance
Lenygon & Co., London, England;
Bradley Martin, Westbury, Long Island, New York, USA;
Esmond Bradley Martin, Westbury, Long Island, New York, USA;
Private collection, New York, USA.
Literature
Sotheby's, Important English Furniture, Silver, Ceramics and Decorations, New York, October 21-22, 2004, lot 384.
Illustrated:
Margaret Jourdain, ‘Furniture of the XVII and XVIII centuries: a side table by William Kent’, Country Life, 13 May 1911, pp. 684–7.
Francis Lenygon, Furniture in England from 1660 to 1760, 1914, p. 124, fig. 193.
Susan Moore, ‘Faith and faithless choice: furniture in the early years of Country Life’, Country Life, 8 January 1986, p. 73, fig. 3.
