LATE 18TH CENTURY, PROBABLY ROME

This side table is loosely based on a design from the Diverse maniere d'adornare i cammini by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (d. 1778) of 1769 which depicts a table supported with griffin monopodia (A. Gonzlez-Palacios, Il Tempio del Gusto, Milan, 1984, vol. II, p. 103, fig. 209) and a further drawing by Piranesi for a console table supported by ram's headed monopodia (G. Lizzani, Il Mobile Romano, Milan, 1970, p. XXXV, fig. LXVII). It relates to a pair of tables in the Quirinale, Rome, which were supplied in 1773 to Prince Don Marcantonio Borghese (d. 1800) for the Palazzo Borghese by Antonio Landucci (A. Gonzlez-Palacios, I Mobili Italiani, Milan, 1996, pp. 184-185, cat. 59). These tables incorporate the same curious juxtaposition of the neo-classical elements of the frieze and the supports in contrast to the early 18th Century manner of the stretcher. A pair of corner consoles with very similar supports was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 22 March 1996, lot 241, while a large side table of similar character was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 5 October 1991, lot. 318.