This plain table was probably placed by Soane in the Basement Ante Room in around 1834.¹ On it Soane displayed a carefully selected group of six busts, combining casts from the heads of the sons of Laocoon in the celebrated antique group in the Vatican, busts of patrician Romans, and portraits of famous contemporaries (the actor John Philip Kemble – famous for his portrayal of Cato - and the French scientist Georges Cuvier).

This table does not appear in the Furniture and Fittings inventory but instead in the main works of art inventory, as ‘M301 A table inlaid with various specimens of Marble on which 6 busts are placed’. For many years this table stood in the front entrance hall but in 2006 it was restored to its original position in the basement.

In 2015 the correct top, inlaid with marble specimens, was replaced on this table.

¹ The table is not shown in a number of sketch views of c.1834 in SM Vol. 52 but is present in later sketches in the same volume and in the published plate in the 1835 Description. The bust of Cuvier displayed on it in 1835 did not enter the collection until some time between 1832 and 1834-35.

J. Soane Description of the Residence of John Soane, Architect, London, 1835, p. 31

M301.A, marble top
M303, object displayed on this
M305, object displayed on this
M302, object displayed on this
M304, object displayed on this
M306, object displayed on this