Darmanin & Sons [Malta]
Table top 1839-43
Wood, various marbles | 4.5 x 152.5 x 91.0 cm (whole object) | RCIN 601
-
Rectangular cartouche-shaped table top marble slab inlaid with hard stones; grey border to pink rectangular band and central black ground with coloured stone strapwork and oval reserve of brown and black band, containing bowl of flowers on a white ground. The underside with a printed paper label 'J. DARMANIN & SONS / MARBLE WORKERS / MONUMENTAL & MOSAIC SLABS / AND / OTHER ORNAMENTAL WORK / STRADA LEVANTE No. 45 / MALTA'.
This table top may be the one seen on an elaborate giltwood stand depicted in the watercolour by Douglas Morison of The Green Drawing Room, Buckingham Palace, 1843 [RCIN 919899]. It may have been acquired by the Queen Dowager Adelaide who wintered on Malta in 1839 and noted that the 'Marble tables are beautiful' and that 'There are very good working people here in all Sort of Stone work ... I have given a good many orders' (RA VIC/MAIN/Y/1/75]. On the same trip, the Queen Dowager wrote to her brother-in-law, the Duke of Sussex, informing that she had ordered him a marble table top as a present to him: 'I have taken the liberty of ordering a Marble Table for you as my humble offering on your natal Day ... The Maltese work very well in Stone & are very industrious people.' (RA GEO/ADD9/214). Kate Hay has noted that J. Darmanin & Sons exhibited tables of this type at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and she has dated this table top to c. 1850-80 (K. Hay, 'Mosaic Marble Tables by J. Darmanin & Sons of Malta', Furniture History, 2010, p. 170, fig. 13). Other tables by J. Darmanin & Sons in the Royal Collection include RCINs 20591 & 2631.Provenance
Probably acquired in Malta by Queen Adelaide.
-
Creator(s)
(manufacturer)(nationality)Acquirer(s)
-
Medium and techniques
Wood, various marbles
Measurements
4.5 x 152.5 x 91.0 cm (whole object)
Place of Production
Malta