Console Table. Carved And Gilded Wood, Marble. 18th Century.

Console table. Carved and gilded wood, marble. 18th century.

Console table crafted from carved and gilded wood on the front and sides, featuring a contoured top made of veined red marble that creates curves and counter-curves. The legs, with their straight, clog-like shapes, and the central section of the piece feature carved plant motifs clearly influenced by the Rococo style. Noteworthy on the front is the openwork center panel adorned with roses, volutes, and other motifs, as well as a narrow band running the full height of the central section of the piece, just below the top, featuring plant motifs in low relief. This type of console table is often called a “wall console” because it is designed to be placed against a wall (hence the absence of gilding and carving on the back). The marble top is reminiscent of Italian “Rosso antico,” but differs enough to suggest another type of marble or veined red jasper (red marble from Alicante, Rouge Incarnat, or Rosso from France or Languedoc, Rosso Verona, etc.) frequently used in furniture from various 18th-century European schools, following the rise of interest in the natural sciences. Stylistically, both in terms of the lines of the band and the top as well as the elements of the rest of the piece—and in terms of the material—a connection can be drawn to 18th-century European works, with similarities to Spanish, Italian, and, to a lesser extent, French pieces. Compare with a mid-18th-century “console” held at the Italian Embassy in Berlin, Germany (National Catalog code 1201273839; inventory number 898-899); with a pair attributed to François Rournier (1735–1740; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inventory no. 1972.284.4); etc.

Dimensions: 126 x 57 x 89 cm