Lot Essay
Derived from antique prototypes, such as the Etruscan rhyton drawn by Nicolas Xavier Willemin (now in the Bibliothèque National, Paris), such animal-supported guéridons enjoyed renewed popularity at the end of the 18th Century, featuring for instance in a fashion engraving of 1798 (illustrated in U. Leben, Bernard Molitor, London 1992, figs.116-117). With its distinctive panelled frieze and griffin monopodiae, this guéridon shares much in common with the oeuvre of the ébéniste Bernard Molitor (maître in 1787), such as featured on the guéridon attributed to him in Leben, op.cit., cat. no.107. A further closely related guéridon was sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 18 june 1989, lot 115.