A pair of George II giltwood console tables attributed to William Kent and Benjamin Goodison.

Note: The tables have been re-gilded. The supporting struts at the back are 19th century or early 20th century additions which allow the tables to be free-standing. The verde antico marble tops are of later date, and the bases have been painted to simulate verde antico marble to match.

The tables remained together as a pair until 1960, when they were sold separately in the Walter P. Chrysler Jr. sale in New York, and were then reunited in the 1990s by Partridge Fine Arts Plc.

Dolphin tables from the early 18th century are exceptionally rare. One such pair is recorded at Boughton House, Northamptonshire, England, in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensbury, and another pair, on which the dolphins are combined with eagles, is in the collection at Ditchley Park, Oxfordshire, England. Other examples, including a set of twelve dolphin tables made for Bridgwater House, London, date from the Regency period. A single table was sold from the collection of the Duke of Northumberland in May 1997.

A possible source for the design of the tables is a drawing by William Kent for a fountain, published in the monograph on the architect by Susan Weber. Benjamin Goodson and William Kent would certainly have worked together on Royal commissions in the 1740s. The most compelling information can be found in the Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, where a commission is mentioned for Benjamin Goodison at Deene Park, Northamptonshire, England. The accounts of the 4th Earl and Countess of Cardigan at Deene Park show that in 1741 Goodison ‘supplied a carved and gilt dolphin table frame to match another’. Could these be the same two tables? Without further evidence, this remains merely a possibility, but it would certainly explain the slight differences of carving within an otherwise identical design.