{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O7983"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O7983/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AU9298/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AU9298/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AU9298","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AJ3669","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT6515","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EY5084","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EY5086","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2011EY5087","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2015HX1507","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O7983/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O7983","accessionNumber":"W.12:1, 2-1968","objectType":"Table","titles":[{"title":"The Warwick Castle table","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"This table is a rare example of 17th century furniture decorated in <i>scagliola</i>. This is a mixture of different-coloured pastes, which look like marbles when dried and polished. Italian workshops revived this ancient technique in the 16th century. The earliest known use in England was in 1669, when a monument to Lord Poulett in <i>scagliola </i>was erected in the St George's church, Hinton St. George, Somerset. This is attributed to Baldassare Artima, who also probably made our table. A small group of pieces of English furniture with similar <i>scagliola</i> decoration, made between about 1673 and 1686 seems to be the work of Baldassare Artima, possibly working with Diacinto Cawcy.\r\nA wealthy patron would have commissioned this table for display rather than practical use. It may have stood between the windows of a grand reception room, flanked by matching candlestands. This <i>scagliola</i> table retains most of its original bright colours, unlike marquetry tables of the same form made about 1670-1700.","physicalDescription":"Table with rectangular top of limestone, covered with <i>scagliola</i> showing a formal and symmetrical design centreing on a vase of Persian form containing a crown imperial with other flowers,  the corners filled with paired <i>cornucopiae</i>spilling lemons, pears, apples and turnips, with wheat ears and cherries, the pairs tied with red and white ribbon, the ground of the table also showing four birds. \n\nThe four legs, frame and stretcher of pine, oak and beech, covered in <i>scagliola</i>, the legs imitating Siena marble, the frame showing flowers in baskets and 16-point compass stars, the x-form stretcher with panels showing flowers against a black ground, the centre marked with a butterfly.\n\nDesign of the frame \r\nThe frieze is decorated on both long sides with five compartments. The two small compartments, above each leg, are decorated with simulated marble, which picks up the thin band of simulated marble at the base of the frieze and the simulated marble of the columnar legs. The central compartment shows two birds pecking at strawberries. The two larger compartments flanking the central one are similar to the single compartments on the side friezes and show white flowering plants on either side of a star motif. The four columnar legs of the Doric order are covered with scagliola  imitating orange marble and have giltwood capitals and bases. They are united at the base by a flat, wavy, double-Y-shaped stretcher, which is decorated on the swelling centre section with a vase similar to that on the table top and on the arms with long-stemmed bell flowers and white flowers with five petals. Below the stretcher, the legs are raised on flattened, turned feet. \r\n\r\nConstruction of the frame\r\nThe frame is mainly of pine, the turned legs possibly of beech, lime or sycamore. The long sides of the frieze are tenoned into the short sides and  strengthened with large rectangular blocks glued into the angles, into which the legs are tenoned, through the abaci panels. The tops of the blocks are angled downwards from the back and front of the table and the short side rails are rebated on the inside at the top to the depth of this chamfer. The reason for this is not clear. The scagliola is built up on the outside of the frieze panel to a depth of about 8 mm, the top of the scagliola  protected by an applied facing of pine, approximately 8 mm high and the width of the rail at the top, painted black. The lower edge also shows a fillet, painted black, thinner than the upper one, above the thin, painted layer of imitation marble below the scagliola. These fillets are mitred at the outer corners. On the outer face of the lower fillet is glued a D-shaped moulding in ebonized wood, mitred at the corners. \r\n\r\nThe stretcher is built of five boards. The jointing is unclear. There is no sign of lap-jointing on the sides of the elements. The joints with the central panel are reinforced underneath with chamfered pine panels, nailed up. Additional S-shaped iron plates run under the wavy stretcher arms and under  the shallow, square blocks in ebonized oak that are set between the columns and the feet. These plates are finely finished, with chamfered edges and are attached with screws which appear to be machine made. The scagliola on the top surface of the stretcher is approximately 7 mm thick and runs right to the edge.\r\n\nThe top is inlaid within a white outer stringing on the black ground. Within this is a design of a vase of flowers in the centre with twin cornucopiae of  fruit and flowers in each corner with six butterflies and four birds on a black ground. The large central flower has been identified as a Fritillaria Imperialis (Crown Imperial). The cornucopiae are filled with flowers, lemons, turnips, tomatoes, cherries and wheat ears. The left hand cornucopiae are identical in each corner, as are the right, although the former centre on melons and the latter on lemons. The scagliola is mounted on a slab of  limestone, which has been broken and reinforced underneath with a slab of slate, slightly smaller than an original reinforcement of slate.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Baldassare Artima","id":"AUTH317476"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28674"},"note":"The attribution to Baldassare Artima is by analogy with a chimneypiece at Ham House and other pieces known to be by this maker"},{"name":{"text":"Diacinto Cawcy","id":"AUTH317477"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28690"},"note":"The differences between the quality of the work on the table-top and the frame suggests that two hands were working on this table.  It is known that Diacinto Cawcy worked with Baldassare Artima in the early 1670s."}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"pine","id":"AAT12620"},{"text":"scagliola","id":"AAT14963"},{"text":"beech","id":"AAT11948"},{"text":"slate","id":"AAT11657"}],"techniques":[{"text":"inlay (process)","id":"AAT53850"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"The top of slate decorated with scagliola, the frame of pine and beech faced with scagliola.","categories":[{"text":"Furniture","id":"THES48948"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"FWK","id":"THES48597"},"images":["2006AU9298","2006AJ3669","2006AT6515","2011EY5084","2011EY5086","2011EY5087","2015HX1507"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""},{"current":{"text":"133","id":"THES49881"},"free":"","case":"BY12","shelf":"EXP","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Table top","id":""}],[{"text":"Table frame","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1671","earliest":"1666-01-01","latest":"1675-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"It is likely that the table was made before Baldassare Artima and Diacinto Cawcy quarelled over matters of finance in 1671."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"80","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"116.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"76.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This table came from Warwick Castle where it was recorded in the Green Drawing Room. It may have been acquired by Francis, 1st Earl of Warwick (1719-1773), for in 1757 Dr Richard Pococke recorded that 'there are some beautiful marble tables in the castle brought from Italy by the present Earl'. However, it is not mentioned in the 1815 description of the contents of the castle, and as Henry 3rd Earl of Warwick (1816-1853), bought a sixteenth century <font -i>pietra dura</font> Florentine table from the Grimani Palace in Venice, the <font -i>scagliola</font> table may have been acquired in the 19th century.\r\n\r\nThe table was sold by Christie's, King Street on 21 March 1968, lot 116, amongst a number of pieces sold by the Trustees of the Warwick Castle Settlement (lots 94-128).  It was described as 'A RARE 17TH CENTURY SCAGLIOLA SIDE TABLE' and identified as 'Anglo-Dutch, third quarter of the 17th century'. This identification was accepted by the V&amp;A when it was first acquired\r\n\r\nIt was purchased from Mallett & Co in 1968. RP 68/3420\n\n<u>Historical significance</u>: <font -i>Scagliola</font> was made in imitation of the costly <font -i>pietra dura</font> produced in the leading European Court workshops.\r\nExamples of scagliola have been found in classical Roman decoration but it was revived in 16th century Italy and developed there in the 17th century by the master mason Guido del Conte (1584-1649). There is evidence that scagliola was being imitated in Northern Europe by the 17th century. The earliest dated use of scagliola in England, ca.1673 -1675, is in the Queen's Closet at Ham House, Surrey, where black panels inlaid with naively rendered flowers and birds and green foliage ornament are used as a surround to the fireplace and the hearth stone is decorated with the Duke of Lauderdale's cypher and coronet. A set of candlestands, mirror frame and table incorporating the arms of the 2nd Earl of Peterborough, at Drayton House, Northamptonshire have, like the scagliola fire surround at Ham House have recently been attributed to Baldassare Artima, an Italian plasterer recorded as making a 'Chimney piece with a frame wrought out of stuccoe' for Whitehall Palace in 1686 (Wren Society, VII, p.116)\r\nThe design of this table top is much less sophisticated than contemporary Italian productions. Yet this table is the only example where the decorations of the top and the supporting structure are so closely integrated. Clearly it was the product of an important workshop, actively experimenting in the newly imported technique.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Table with pine carcase and scagliola top and legs, decorated with a crown imperial in a pot, with cornucopiae, birds and butterflies; the legs are decorated in imitation of Siena marble","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Wilk, Christopher ed. <font -u>Western Furniture 1350 to the present day in the Victoria and Albert Museum London</font>. London: Philip Wilson Publishers in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1996. pp.70-71.\r\nISBN: 1856674435"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Christopher Rowell, '<i>Scagliola</i> by \"Baldassare Artima <i>Romanus</i>\" at Ham House and Elswhere', in ed. Christopher Rowell, <i>Ham House, 400 Years of Collecting and Patronage</i> (New Haven and London, published by Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the National Trust, 2013), chapter 15, pp. 204-221, the table discussed pp. 207-208 and illustrated p. 208."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mrs. J. C. Cole, 'The Painting or Staining of Marble as Practiced by William Byrd of Oxford and Others,' Oxoniesia, vol XVIII, 1952, pp. 193-99"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Anthony Coleridge, 'Don Petro's Table-Tops: Scagliola and Grand Tour Clients,' Apollo, March, 1966, pp.184-87."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"John Flemming, 'The Hugfords of Florence,' (Part I), Connoisseur, October 1955, pp 106 - 10."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hugh Honour, 'Scagliola for Georgian Homes,' Country Life, 22 June 1967, pp 1627-30."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Robert Brian Wragg, 'The History of Scagliola,' Country Life, 10 October 1957, pp 718-21."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Illustrated in Country Life Annual, 1969 (Mallett Advertisement)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Jervis, Simon Swynfen and Dodd, Dudley, <i>Roman Splendour, English Arcadia</i>. London, PhilipWilson/The National Trust, 2015, p. 13, not illustrated."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Adam Bowett, New light on Diacinto Cawcy and the Barrow Monument', in <i>Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History</i>, vol. XVII, pt.4 (2012), pp.424-33; figs. 125-6"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"2025 V&A Film featuring the recreation of a section of the table top by the Bianco Bianchi workshop, (Florence, Italy):\r\n'ASMR The Lost Art Revealed: Ancient Scagliola Marble Technique'\n\r\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjTWutNBIb4 [accessed 18 July 2025]"}],"production":"Possibly made in England, although it may have been acquired by Henry, 3rd Earl of Warwick (1816-1853) in Italy. If it was made in England in the late 17th century, it is probably the work of an Italian craftsman. The stretcher is very similar in form to that of a seventeenth century Flemish table in the V&A's collection (W.7-1965), suggesting that the table may have been constructed by a Flemish craftsman.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"flowers (plants)","id":"AAT132399"},{"text":"bird","id":"x35043"},{"text":"butterfly","id":"x30161"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"From Warwick castle. Scagliola decoration is produced from powdered selenite (crystallised sulphate of lime), coloured and worked into a paste. First practiced in ancient Rome, the art was revived in Italy in the sixteenth century. Very similar decoration can be seen on a fireplace and window-sill in the Queen's Closet at Ham House, which are thought to have been produced by Dutch craftsmen working in this country.\n\n[NB, the attribution to Dutch craftsmen has been superseded]","date":{"text":"Unknown","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"TABLE\r\nENGLISH; about 1675\r\nPine with scagliola ('chips of marble') decoration\r\n\r\nFrom Warwick Castle.","date":{"text":"pre October 2000","earliest":null,"latest":"2000-09-30"}},{"text":"Table\r\nAbout 1671\r\nAttributed to Baldassare Artima (active 1669–86) and possibly Diacinto Corcy (active 1670–81)\r\n\r\nEngland (probably London)\r\n\r\nTop: scagliola inlaid on slate ground\r\nFrame: pine\r\nLegs: scagliola, with gilded beechwood capitals and bases\r\n\r\nFormerly at Warwick Castle\r\n\r\nMuseum no. W.12-1968\r\n\r\nAlthough it appears to be marble, this table is decorated in a coloured plaster known as scagliola. The technique developed in Italy as a less expensive version of the hardstone inlay produced by court workshops. Itinerant craftsmen then took the skill to northern Europe. \r\n\r\nIn the 1670s scagliola was new to Britain and so very fashionable. Botanical decoration was also in vogue. Here the table top includes lemons, tomatoes and a splendid crown imperial in a pot. ","date":{"text":"01/12/2012","earliest":"2012-12-01","latest":"2012-12-01"}}],"partNumbers":["W.12:2-1968","W.12:1-1968"],"accessionNumberNum":"12","accessionNumberPrefix":"W","accessionYear":1968,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Table frame","Table top"],"assets":["2019LN3187","2019LN8601","2019LU4668","2019LV2302"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-20","recordCreationDate":"1998-06-17","availableToBook":false}}