Rectangular oak table with detachable specimen top featuring 85 squares of coloured marble and semi-precious stones, set in a black mazy marble diamond grid mounted in a dark green verdi alpi marble base framed with a border of porphyry and white marble. End supports finishing in carved claw feet and joined by a spiral-turned stretcher with floral brass roundels.

Specimen tables were popularised in the 18th Century as souvenirs for wealthy travellers undertaking the Grand Tour throughout Greece and Italy. They exemplify the cultural obsession for collecting the classical and function as intersections between the materials of antiquity and 18th and 19th century European design. The marbles and materials sourced for these tables were prized not only for their appearance, but also because they often originated from important classical archaeological sites. The creation of specimen tables differs from the Renaissance art of pietre dure, as the emphasis is on the significance of the materials themselves, as opposed to how they were used to create figurative imagery.

As the craft developed into the 19th century, marble specimen tables became symbols of empire and parallel the specimen wood boxes created in Caribbean colonies by craftsmen such as Ralph Turnbull.

Alongside a selection of numerous colourful patterned marbles, such the rich burgundy rosso levanto from Liguria and luminous yellow Siena marble, the tiles of this table include semi-precious stones such as quartzes, vibrant green malachite and electric blue lapis lazuli. The latter two stones were renowned as important sources of coloured pigments in Italian Renaissance art.