CIRCA 1820-1840, RUSSIAN OR GERMAN

Details

A RESTAURATION ORMOLU AND PATINATED-BRONZE GUERIDON
CIRCA 1820-1840, RUSSIAN OR GERMAN
The later circular vert Maurin marble top above a paterea and stiff-leaf cast frieze, on three lion-monopodiae legs with acanthus capitals joined by a serpent stretcher supporting a tazza, the frieze reconstructed, the frieze mounts with slightly differing chasing and some replacements, the ebonised wooden base board inserted later, probably originally on castors
34¼ in. (87 cm.) high; 41 in. (104 cm.) diameter

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's New York, 13 October 1984, lot 98.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.

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Flora Elek

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Lot Essay

The distinctive lion-monopodiae supports to this table relate to designs by Napoleon's 'architects' Charles Percier (1764-1838) and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine (1762-1853) in their Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, Paris, 1801. The use of figural monopodiae supports are characteristic of the oeuvre of the celebrated menuisier Georges Jacob (1739-1814), maître in 1765, and his son Franois-Honoré-Georges Jacob, dit 'Jacob-Desmalter' (1770-1841). A grande vasque en malachite supported by three lion-monopodiae headed by masks of Hercules, was made by Jacob-Desmalter to a design by Percier and Fontaine for the Tuileries and is now displayed in the Grand Trianon at Versailles (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Grand Trianon, vol.1, Paris, 1975, p.110). Another gueridon, standing on related chimerae, was executed by Weisweiler and the ciseleur-fondeur Feuchére for the Garde-Meuble in September 1811 (Ledoux-Lebard, op. cit., pp.86-7). These celebrated examples have supports headed by masks whereas the present table has plainer, but no less handsome, legs, terminating in lion-paw feet.

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