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Lot Essay
This table is directly inspired by a design by the iconic German architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841). There are minor differences in the carved details, while the lions's mask on the 'knee' of the present table is missing on the Schinkel design, but the similarities are striking (see Karl Friedrich Schinkel: 1781-1841, exh. cat., Berlin, 1982, no. 351). Schinkel's table was supplied to his Neuen Pavilion in the park of the Royal Palace at Charlottenburg of 1824-25. It remained at Charlottenburg until the Second World War and has now vanished (see A. Stiegel, Berliner Möbelkunst: vom Ende des 18. bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 2001, p. 41 no. 4).
There are two other mahogany tables also clearly after Schinkel's design and both are exhibited in Schloss Glienicke, on the outskirts of Berlin (see A. Stiegel, Ibid., pp. 40-41). These three tables, together with the present version, all share the same iconic base clearly adapted from Antique prototypes by Schinkel which he studied on his travels in Italy and, specifically, the ruins of Pompeii and Heculaneum. Other German furniture designers were clearly thinking along the same lines. An engraving of examples of furniture found in Herculaneum show different variations of these bases to be used for tables and torcheres, and one has the identical lion mask-carved 'knees' as the present table (bid., p. 42).
Interestingly, Schinkel's Charlottenburg table had a marble top, and the present table with its thick and supportive understructure may also have had a more substantial top than the present one. But the two other tables in Schloss Glienicke both have mahogany tops, so there were clearly variations.
There are two other mahogany tables also clearly after Schinkel's design and both are exhibited in Schloss Glienicke, on the outskirts of Berlin (see A. Stiegel, Ibid., pp. 40-41). These three tables, together with the present version, all share the same iconic base clearly adapted from Antique prototypes by Schinkel which he studied on his travels in Italy and, specifically, the ruins of Pompeii and Heculaneum. Other German furniture designers were clearly thinking along the same lines. An engraving of examples of furniture found in Herculaneum show different variations of these bases to be used for tables and torcheres, and one has the identical lion mask-carved 'knees' as the present table (bid., p. 42).
Interestingly, Schinkel's Charlottenburg table had a marble top, and the present table with its thick and supportive understructure may also have had a more substantial top than the present one. But the two other tables in Schloss Glienicke both have mahogany tops, so there were clearly variations.