A Wonderful c.1850 Italian Rococo Revival Ebonised Figural & Marble Topped Console Table

SOLD
Origin: Italian
Period: Mid Nineteenth Century
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1850-60
Height: 35.75 inches (with marble)
Width: 42 inches (with marble)
Depth: 17.5 inches (with marble)
(All at maximum)

The ebonised figural console architectural table having a serpentine demi-lune inset white carrera figured marble top mounted over a above a conforming reticulated frieze well carved with flower heads and interlinking ribbons, with central carved scallop shell over the main figurehead type cabriole leg support carved as a putto terminating in a scrolled end with resting finial survives from mid-nineteenth century Italy.

Condition wise there is a rear flank six-inch section of the frieze that is a later replacement and the frieze as a whole has some mouldings that are later and some losses. To the cherub there is general cracking and chipping all over, and the marble top is a later replacement, which, has a slightly larger over-hang than one would expect and some drilled small holes that could be filled. Other than the aforementioned, the table is in good original and un-meddled with condition with the finish untouched and the whole proving wonderfully decorative. She has fixing brackets present for wall mounting.

Rococo is an 18th-century artistic movement and style, which affected several aspects of the arts including painting, sculpture, architecture, interior design, decoration, literature, music and theatre. It fell out of favour towards the end of the 18th century, and then was revived. Rococo Revival was a 19th-century furniture style, based on Rococo, and characterized by curved silhouettes and ornate carving. Its best-known maker in the United States was John Henry Belter. It began as a "Modern French" style in England in the 1820s, drawing on baroque elements of Louis XVI and Louis XV furniture, and developed in France in the 1830s under Louis Philippe. The style was popularised at the 1851 Crystal Palace Exposition in London, and at expositions in New York in 1853, and Paris in 1855.

The lighthearted themes and intricate designs of Rococo presented themselves best at a more intimate scale than the imposing Baroque architecture and sculpture. The word Rococo is seen as a combination of the French rocaille, meaning stone, and coquilles, meaning shell, due to reliance on these objects as motifs of decoration as we see here in our console table.

A spectacular architectural piece of bold and confident design which also remains thoroughly elegant, proving a perfect balance between masculinity and femininity.
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