PART 17TH CENTURY AND LATER

Details

AN ITALIAN WALNUT CENTRE TABLE
PART 17TH CENTURY AND LATER
The rectangular top with gadrooned edge, the shaped supports decorated with fluted pilasters flanked by foliate scrolls terminating in paw feet, joined by a triple-arched stretcher divided by fluted pilasters with leaf-tip capitals, with an oval paper label numbered '6467', the surface of the top and base of the stretcher restored
31¾ in. (81 cm.) high; 92¼ in. (234.5 cm.) wide; 28½ in. (72.5 cm.) deep

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Richly carved tables of this design were highly prized in France and Italy in the 16th century. They are among the most prominent features in contemporary interior pictures and were among the most costly elements of furniture. The elaborate trestle ends of these Renaissance tables were inspired by similar marble designs of the Antique. The tables were not only revered for their beauty, but also because they functioned as a centre around which all sorts of rituals of celebration took place, which in turn answers for their rich ornament. The tables, by then known as tables en éventail or tables en portique, were even celebrated to a point that their merit in beauty and function was subject for a poem of praise, written by Gilles Corrozet (1510-1568) around 1557.
Whereas the French designs for these tables are slightly more complicated and elaborate, their Italian counterparts are slightly more sober and less figural.

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