This table belongs to the tradition of furniture constructed to feature earlier elements made of important stone specimens. However, the present table is unusual among examples of this practice, in looking farther back than most by marrying a 19th-century base with a top made from a fragment of an ancient Roman floor mosaic. Mosaic as a decorative art has its roots in 5th-century BC Greece, where it first appears in the form of pebbled pavement. By the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC, the form of mosaic using purpose-made marble or limestone tesserae (small, cubic tiles) was developed, and spread throughout the Roman Empire in the following centuries. “The majority of mosaics are found in domestic contexts, and belong to the realm of the private and quotidian...they can be seen as reflections and conveyors of the social preoccupations and interests of their owners.” Like all subsequent eras in history, Roman art followed a social hierarchy: the more elite a Roman household was, the more elaborate and personalized their mosaic decor would be.
One particularly notable ancient Roman dwelling is the Casa Rural das Ruínas (the Country House of the Ruins) a farm and villa at Milreu, Portugal (ancient Lusitania). It was built and expanded between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. The ruins feature “an excellent water supply network, heated rooms and thermal springs and baths...where it is still possible to see brightly colored tile decorations of marine life. The fish were depicted here as being exaggeratedly fat, with the deliberate aim of creating the optical illusion of their real dimension and movement when seen through the water.”
The fish mosaics in the Milreu frigidarium and nymphaeum (water sanctuary) are closely related in design to the present tabletop. In both cases a very similar species of fish is represented, sharing analogous features such as the shape of fins, stripe along the back of the fish, a red gill, and down-turned mouth. A further similitude is the use of distinctive geometric shapes and patterns in both the present top and the Milreu ruins. These include depictions of mollusk-like creatures, and one particular shape, yet to be identified, which is comprised of a series of stacked lines terminating in a forked tail, possibly representing water movement or jellyfish.
The bold and powerful table base is a particularly suitable vehicle to support the ancient top, as it is of the X-form shape much favored by the Romans and Greeks for use in seating as well as tables.
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