REGENCY PERIOD MAHOGANY AND BRASS INLAID LIBRARY DRUM TABLE, CIRCA 1820

the tooled leather inset circular shaped top, above a series of stylized acanthus leaf decorated real and faux drawers, raised on a turned stem and platform base, terminating on scroll feet

Dimensions: 77 cm. high; 130 cm. diameter

The tooled leather inset top above four real and dummy drawers, each inlaid with a mutated brass anthemion typical of plant-based scroll ornamentation. The inset top is similar to the disc top on the marble and mosaic table discovered at Pompeii and now at the Naples Archielogical Museum. The honeysuckle or anthemion ornament was used above acroteria, in cornices, on antefixa, on the neckings of some Ionic capitals, and is to be found elsewhere in Classical Architecture. It is associated with victory, energy, and optimism.

The scroll feet are ornamented with acanthus leaves. Acanthus is the symbol of enduring life and immortality and one of the most widely employed motifs of the ancient world. This thick leaved spiny plant is native to the shores of the Mediterranean and was prized among the Greeks and Romans for the elegance of its leaves. According to some, it was first used by Callimachus to decorate the lower parts of capitals of the Corinthian and Composite Orders.