CIRCA 1840-50

This striking guéridon with its eye-catching malachite top is emblematic of the Russian fascination with malachite and of the spectacular works of art that the Imperial lapidary workshops produced in the first half of the 19th century. Malachite is most closely associated with the Russian Imperial Factories of the 18th and 19th centuries, whose highly skilled stone-cutting led to the creation of some of the most beautiful objets d'art.
The Imperial administration held the sole right to mine for malachite from the Ural Mountains, so the products of these factories were almost exclusively destined for Imperial palaces or to be given as diplomatic gifts, making them very desirable. Among the magnificent presents given by Russian Tsars are two celebrated malachite vases in Windsor Castle, presented to George IV by Tsar Alexander I in 1827 and to Queen Victoria by Tsar Nicholas I in 1839, and a pair of malachite vases in the Grand Trianon, gifted from Tsar Alexander I to Napoleon circa 1808.
The top of this guéridon was created using the technique of ‘Russian mosaic', where malachite is sawn into very thin slices, applied to a stone or metal ground with the veins laid to form pleasing patterns and then polished, making the joins barely visible. By pairing a finely crafted table top that calls to mind the Imperial Factories with a superbly detailed ormolu base, the makers of the present gueridon deftly balance Russian taste with French refinement.
A related guéridon is illustrated V.B. Semyonov, Malachite, Sverdlovsk, 1987, vol. I, p. 181 fig. 43., and a similar example with gilt and patinated-bronze sold Christie's, London, 7 June 2016, lot 186.