{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O58193"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O58193/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC7399/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BC7399/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BC7399","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU0090","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O58193/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O58193","accessionNumber":"W.31-1979","objectType":"Table","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>Wash tables served as stands for basins, soap dishes and towels. This particularly elaborate version of a simple and functional piece of furniture formed part of the furnishings, made in about 1760, of Spencer House, London, the town house of the Earls of Spencer. Other inlaid pieces in this style include two bedside cupboards and a wardrobe, which have been at Althorp, Northamptonshire, since about 1920. The London firm of Gordon & Taitt supplied much of the upholstery, but the maker of the inlaid furniture remains unknown.<br><br><b>Materials and Making</b><br>This wash table  is made of mahogany. The inlay on the table top consists of boxwood on a ground of padouk (a kind of rose-wood from Burma).\n\nWhile the exact country of origin of the mahogany used in this object cannot be confirmed, between 1722 and 1763 more than 90% of the mahogany imported into Great Britain came from Jamaica (Swietenia mahagoni), with most of the remainder from the Bahamas. Mahogany was a plantation product, and the expansion of sugar estates in the Caribbean required vast tracts of land to be cleared for cane cultivation. This land clearing was often carried out by enslaved male labourers, and, as a result, mahogany was exported. As demand grew, planters became more strategic in harvesting and exporting timber. Until 1739, when the outbreak of war with Spain caused prices to double, mahogany was relatively inexpensive, costing about 3d.–5d. per foot in the 1720s, comparable to oak wainscot and far cheaper than walnut (Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715–1740, 2009, p.310).<br><br><b>Design & Designing</b><br>The table is set on four legs, surmounted with capitals modelled on those placed above the caryatids (sculpted female figures) on the Erechtheum, a temple in Athens which stood to the north of the Parthenon. James Stuart (1713-1788), the table's designer, made use of an illustration from <i>The Antiquities of Athens</i> (London, 1762: pl. XXXVIII), a book he wrote in collaboration with Nicholas Revett (1720-1804), the first detailed survey of ancient Greek architecture written in English.<br><br><b>People</b><br>Stuart designed this table for the bedchamber of Georgiana, Countess Spencer (died in 1814), at Spencer House, London.  In <i>A Six Weeks Tour through the Southern Counties of England and Wales</i>(1770), Arthur Young referred to Spencer House's 'beds and tables very finely carved and inlaid'.","physicalDescription":"The following description has been transcribed from the original accession record of 1979. TABLE ENGLISH: about 1760. Mahogany inlaid with padouk and boxwood","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Stuart, James 'Athenian'","id":"A8895"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"AAT25190"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"mahogany","id":"AAT12221"},{"text":"boxwood","id":"AAT12002"},{"text":"padouk","id":"AAT12335"}],"techniques":[{"text":"marquetry","id":"AAT53853"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Mahogany, with boxwood inlay on padouk ground","categories":[{"text":"Woodwork","id":"THES48877"},{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"},{"text":"British Galleries","id":"THES48985"},{"text":"Household objects","id":"THES48939"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006BC7399","2006AU0090"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"118D (VA)","id":"THES49229"},"free":"","case":"PL4","shelf":"","box":"41"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Table","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1760","earliest":"1755-01-01","latest":"1764-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"3436:198","id":"O1021537"},"association":"Object"}],"creditLine":"Purchased with the assistance of the Brigadier Clark Fund through Art Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"88","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"107","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"61","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Designed by James Stuart for the bedchamber of Georgiana, Countess of Spencer (died in 1814); made in London by an unknown maker. This table was made for the pioneering Neo-classical interior of Spencer House in London, designed by the architect James Stuart. He was nicknamed 'Athenian' Stuart because he had been to Athens and studied and published its ancient remains. The Doric capitals at the top of the legs of this table are copied from those on the Erectheum, a monument in Athens.\r\n\r\nThe table top is inlaid with a double Grecian wave-scrolled ribbon fret, a decorative design which Stuart used in other parts of Spencer House. In 1857 he had taken over from John Vardy as the building’s architect and introduced changes to his predecessor’s completed designs (some of which are in the collections of the V&A). Vardy’s original sketch of the underside - or soffit - of the great staircase (museum no. 3436:198) makes use of Roman-style scroll brackets. Stuart replaced these with the same Greek fret pattern that can be seen on the table.  \r\n\r\nThe table has torch-tapered feet which spring from a reeded bulb – a feature of much Chippendale furniture.\n\nHistorical Significance: While the exact country of origin of the mahogany used in this table cannot be confirmed, between 1722 and 1763 more than 90% of the mahogany imported into Great Britain came from Jamaica (Swietenia mahagoni), with most of the remainder from the Bahamas. Mahogany was a plantation product, and the expansion of sugar estates in the Caribbean required vast tracts of land to be cleared for cane cultivation. This land clearing was often carried out by enslaved male labourers, and, as a result, mahogany was exported. As demand grew, planters became more strategic in harvesting and exporting timber. Until 1739, when the outbreak of war with Spain caused prices to double, mahogany was relatively inexpensive, costing about 3d.–5d. per foot in the 1720s, comparable to oak wainscot and far cheaper than walnut (Bowett, Early Georgian Furniture 1715–1740, 2009, p.310).","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Mahogany table with boxwood inlay on padouk ground, designed by James 'Athenian' Stuart, London, ca. 1760","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[{"text":"Spencer House","id":"THES270349"}],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"TABLE\r\nENGLISH; about 1760\r\nMahogany\r\n\r\nOne of a pair of wash-stand tables provided en suite with two bedside cupboards and a wardrobe for Lady Spencer's bedchamber at Spencer House, London.  Probably designed by James 'Athenian' Stuart.\r\n\r\nPurchased by the Brigadier Clark Fund through the National Art-Collections Fund.","date":{"text":"pre October 2000","earliest":null,"latest":"2000-09-30"}}],"partNumbers":["W.31-1979"],"accessionNumberNum":"31","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1979,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2026PP5547","2019LR3977","2019LU8694","2019LV4800"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-05","recordCreationDate":"2001-04-02","availableToBook":false}}