An Italian specimen and volcanic marble top on a George IV carved laburnum stand the panel Naples, late 18th century, the base attributed to William Trotter & Son of Edinburgh, second quarter 19th century

the top inlaid with interlaced red jasper, giallo antico marble and white marble circles enclosing volcanic specimen stones, bardiglio, porfido verde mare, within a possibly later giallo antico border, mounted in a carved laburnum frame as a centre table, the leaf-carved and bracketed frieze on leaf-carved double-scroll legs

Probably either:
Sir William Forbes, 7th Bt. (1773-1828)
or
Sir John Stuart Forbes, 8th. Bt. (1804-1866)

Top: A very good example generally in very good order but with some cracks which are consolidated and very stable. One long side at the back edge has not been veneered with marble.It is possible that the Siena marble border was added when this table was fitted into the base in the 1820 or 1830s. Base: Good and stable. Evidence of old worm and minor remedial repairs to the interior. Some minor scuff to edge. Variation to colour. Attractive.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Related literature:

A. González-Palacios, Las colecciones reales españolas de mosaicos y piedras duras, Madrid, 1990, p. 264, no. 56

A. Coleridge, "Some Rococo Cabinet Makers and Sir Lawrence Dundas", Apollo, September 1967, p. 215

Sir William Forbes, 6th Bt. (1739-1806) traveled extensively on the Continent in 1792-1793, spending time in Florence in the autumn of 1792; in his Grand Tour diaries, NLS (MS1540, Vol. II) he writes admiringly of hard-stone inlay, observing ‘some very capricious tables executed by what they call pietre dure, in which by means of various coloured stones all sorts of fruits and flowers are represented in the most lively manner’. The 6th Bt. does however write, on the 22 March 1793: 'we [Sir William and Lady Forbes] made a decision on coming abroad not to purchase either paintings or antiquities as being an expense of which I feel there is no end', NLS, (MS1542, Vol. IV). A seemingly prudent banker, Forbes was though clearly interested in the geology of Italy, making a number of remarks about the hard-stone objects and features he encounters. He records in Volume III, on 8 December 1792, the striking lava stone pavements of Naples and the way in which the stones were arranged. His son William, 7th Bt. (1773-1828) also visits Italy in 1827 and being less restrained with his buying, commissions James Irvine the dealer to form a small picture collection for him, with an enormous budget of £10,000. It is at this time that this extraordinary top could well have been acquired. 

The Forbes tradition of travelling in Europe was to continue into a third generation. In 1838 and 1839 John Forbes, 8th Bt. (1804-1866) and his wife Lady Harriet (1808-1884) go to Florence and visit Alfonso Buoninsegni, a dealer in objects d'art and hardstone objects, at 1188 Lungarno. It is not recorded what they acquired from Buoninsegni, NLS (Acc.4796/196), but this shows that they were seriously collecting, as the great number of extant bills for the 1830s from the best London dealers conserved amongst the Fettercairn Papers at the National Library of Scotland demonstrates.

The extraordinary marble and volcanic stone top closely relates to a group of similar table tops brought to England and Scotland by Grand Tourists between the second half of the 18^th century and the early 19^th century, including Patrick Home of Wedderburn (1728-1808) at Paxton House, while three similar slabs were purchased by Brownlow Cecil, 9th Earl of Exeter (1725-1793) for Burghley House, Lincolnshire. A pair of pier tables with similar tops from Aske, home of Sir Lawrence Dundas, is illustrated in Coleridge, op. cit., p. 215; another specimen lava top was recorded at Florence Court, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, the seat of the Earls of Enniskillen, and sold Christie's London, 11 November 1999, lot 182, whilst another one, of smaller proportions and octagonal shape, was formerly recorded at Loughton Hall, Essex.

Furthermore, a related top on an earlier George II pine side table was sold with a Langley Park, Norfolk provenance in these Rooms, 15 November 1996, lot 16; a similar table top sold Sotheby’s London, 10 December 2003, lot 175. Finally, two closely related tops, also with fifty-five similar specimen marbles following an identical guilloche colour pattern, were these Rooms, 13 June 2001, lot 53, and Christie’s London, 6 July 2012, lot 3.

These slabs are reminiscent of the work of Flemish-born Giuseppe Canart (d. 1791), known to have produced at least two table tops inlaid with specimen marbles and volcanic stones for the Royal Palace of Naples in the 1780s. These are both decorated with a grid of oval patterns based on the ornamental repertoire found in the mosaic floors of Pompeii and Herculaneum. A related top, described as “undoubtedly Neapolitan, late 18^th century” is in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, inv. no. 4981, illustrated in González-Palacios, op. cit., p. 264.

The carved laburnum base could well be Scottish, its design relating to material produced by William Trotter & Sons of Edinburgh; the Forbes family were patrons of the Edinburgh cabinetmakers for three generations. Certainly the company produced a number of table bases for jasper and marble specimen tops including a pair with 'lava tops' and of geometric design. This group was supplied by Trotter to George Home for Paxton House, Berwickshire in 1814 and produced in rosewood in a bold neoclassical style like the base offered here. Home supplied the tops and Trotter produced the boldly carved frames for them. See Francis Bamford, A Dictionary of Edinburgh Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1983, plates 54A-B, 55A-B, 56 and 57.

Commonly used in the manufacture of bag-pipes, Scottish laburnum was one of the most prized timbers for cabinet and chair-making north of the border. So much so, in his Forest Trees (1775), William Boutcher notes that 'some preferred [it] even to mahogany for its solidity and beautiful colour... and I myself have seen a large table and a dozen chairs of it, in the possession of a noble Lord'