An Empire ormolu-mounted mahogany console table

ATTRIBUTED TO JEAN-JACQUES WERNER

Details
An Empire ormolu-mounted mahogany console table
Attributed to Jean-Jacques Werner
The rectangular white marble top above a frieze drawer centred by a domed flower-head within a circlet issuing an acanthus and foliate spray to either side, on scrolling supports headed by a pierced anthemion and foliate mount and an acanthus clasp and terminating in paw feet, above a concave-fronted rectangular platform, on flat bun feet, the mirrored backboard missing
91cm. high x 114cm. wide x 44cm. deep

Lot Essay

Jean-Jacques Werner (1791-1849), born in Switzerland and first based in Paris in the rue Saint-Dominique-Saint-Germain in 1812.

This console table, with its hollowed plinth and acanthus-headed scrolling supports terminating in lion-paw feet, is virtually identical to an example stamped by Werner, which was executed circa 1815-1820 (sold at Drouot, Paris, 26 June 1974). These tables are of identical form and share most of the characteristic ormolu mounts, such as the acanthus-clasps and the roundels flanking the legs, which are firm grounds to attribute the present example to this ébéniste. (D.Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ébénistes du XIXe Siècle, Paris, 1984, p. 633)

The design for this type of console probably derives from a sarcophagus-ended table illustrated in C. Percier and P. Fontaine's Recueil de decorations interieurs, 1801, PL XV.
See illustration

More from Furniture, Clocks, Carpets, Sculpture and Works of Art

View All
View All