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Lot Essay
These sumptuous tables, carved with bold twisting scrolls, strapwork and grotesque masks, are typical of the elaborate work of Roman intagliatori of the early 18th century. They echo the influences of the baroque style disseminated in Rome by Bernini. Their overall form, mask-centred frieze and grotesque-carved C-scrolled legs with distinctive feet relate them to a specific group of side tables in the Palazzo Quirinale, Rome (illustrated and described in A. González-Palacios, Il Patrimonio Artistico del Quirinale I Mobili Italiani, Milan, 1996, cat. 46-47, pp. 158-166).
Little is known about the Roman carvers working in Rome at that time although González-Palacios notes a particular intagliatore, Francesco Tibaldi, recorded working in Rome between 1715 and 1723 for the Portuguese King. In 1719, Tibaldi supplied a figure carved with 'molti trophei con basamento di cartelle, con bandiere, Scudi, charcassi, maze ferrate, trombe, lance, frezze' for a royal carriage. It is suggested that Tibaldi might have been one of the few skilled intagliatori able to execute such elaborate models.
Another Roman console table, featuring legs of very similar profile but with additional female masks and grotesques, once in the Palazzo Barberini, and now in the Palazzo Corsini, Rome, is illustrated in A. González-Palacios, Il Mobile nei Secoli in Italia, Milan, 1969, fig.27.
Little is known about the Roman carvers working in Rome at that time although González-Palacios notes a particular intagliatore, Francesco Tibaldi, recorded working in Rome between 1715 and 1723 for the Portuguese King. In 1719, Tibaldi supplied a figure carved with 'molti trophei con basamento di cartelle, con bandiere, Scudi, charcassi, maze ferrate, trombe, lance, frezze' for a royal carriage. It is suggested that Tibaldi might have been one of the few skilled intagliatori able to execute such elaborate models.
Another Roman console table, featuring legs of very similar profile but with additional female masks and grotesques, once in the Palazzo Barberini, and now in the Palazzo Corsini, Rome, is illustrated in A. González-Palacios, Il Mobile nei Secoli in Italia, Milan, 1969, fig.27.