17th-century Italian Baroque tables to visit Edinburgh

A PAIR of 17th-century tables carved by the “Michelangelo of Wood” for the Doge of Venice will go on display in Scotland’s capital this summer, after they were saved from export at a cost of £735,900.

The tables boast massively ornate legs showing axes and arrows among dramatic curls of wood, thought to be the work of the celebrated Italian sculptor Andrew Brustolon.

Originally put up for auction last year and destined for a foreign buyer, they were bought jointly by National Museums Scotland (NMS) and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

NMS will own one of the tables, and chairman Sir Angus Grossart said it would “greatly enhance” Scotland’s collections of European art and design. While NMS has many examples of Scottish and English furniture, it lacks Italian work from this period.

The “parade” tables, designed to impress in a palatial setting, boast intricately veneered tops of ebony, rosewood and walnut, depicting palaces and sea battles with the Turks.

They also carry the crests of the Dukes of Buccleuch, who owned the tables, formerly housed at Dalkeith Palace, for more than a century until 1971. In November the UK government put an export bar on the tables, after they were put up for sale by a private collector, because they carried “outstanding significance for the study of 17th-century furniture and the history of taste and collecting in 19th-century Britain”.

The National Museums put nearly £60,000 from its annual purchase funds into the deal and another £60,000 from its charitable trust. A further £250,000 came from the Art Fund charity, with the rest from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the V&A.

Andrea Brustolon worked in Venice in the 1680s and the legs were carved in boxwood, which he commonly used for his famous Baroque furnishings and sculptures.