CIRCA 1770, IN THE MANNER OF GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI

The antique bust portrait medallions and rams masks on this table typifies the Roman style promoted by the artist/architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi (d.1778) and relates to his designs for two tables and a chimneypiece which are illustrated in J. Wilton-Ely, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, The Complete Etchings, Vol. II, San Francisco, 1994, p. 902, fig. 829. A closely related example with almost identical urn issuing flower and shell cross stretcher and hoof-foot legs, displayed at the Capitoline Museum, Rome, is illustrated in A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, vol. II, Milan, 1984, fig. 152. A further similar pair of tables with a festive buccrania-hung frieze sold in an Anonymous Sale, Christies London, 9 July 1998, lot 33.