Pair of pier tables

These tables are a key example of the transition in taste and design from Italian baroque to English Palladian furniture at Chiswick House. The nereid figures with their pearl necklaces recall the allusions to Venus in the Green Velvet Room, and the merboys in the Blue Velvet Room. The central shells are ridden by putti (another reference to the goddess of love born from the sea) who drape masks of Neptune with swags of oak leaves and acorns, alluding to the season of harvest and plenty. Taken together, these motifs would have contributed to the sense of hospitality and convivial conversation in the Gallery at Chiswick House.