19TH CENTURY,

The original pair of tables of this model were designed by Francesco Antonio Franzoni (1734-1818) for Pope Pius VI's (1775-1799) Sala degli animali in the last quarter of the 18th century. They remain at the Vatican Museum. (See A. Gonzalez-Palacios, Il Tempo de Gusto: Roma e il Regna della Due Sicile, Milan, 1984, pl. 157.) A nearly identical table from the period, lacking the Papal star, is at the Getty Museum, and illustrated in their 2001 Summary Catalogue, p. 210, cat. 420. A very similar table was sold at Parke-Bernet Galleries, 29 October 1955, lot 379.