Description
SMALL FLIP TABLE TRANSFORMABLE INTO A GARDEN France, last quarter of the 18th - early 19th century (?) Walnut and resin frame; mahogany and mahogany veneer; gilt bronzes and zinc H. 72 cm, W. 41 cm, D. 35 cm Our small mahogany piece of furniture of an obvious practical sense, presents a geometrical decoration on all its faces of gilded bronzes drawing on the four panels a hexagonal motive underlined by rows of water leaves and oak leaves in clasps. The uprights are fluted and filleted with gilt bronze candles. They are extended by tapered legs joined by a spacer shelf surrounded by a bronze gallery decorated with openwork piastres, this motif is repeated all around the top. The absence of a stamp makes it impossible to identify the author of this jardinière. The quality of construction, the purity of the neoclassical forms and the richness of the bronzes indicate however a creation of a talented cabinetmaker of the reign of Louis XVI; one could thus bring this work closer to the work of Pierre Garnier (1726/27-1806), cabinetmaker who excelled in the realization of mahogany furniture in the great respect of the style of the end of the XVIIIth century. For example, the architectural rigour, reinforced by large areas of mahogany and the extensive use of bronzes, can be seen in a piece of vanity furniture in the Wallace Collection in London (fig. 1).
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SMALL FLIP TABLE TRANSFORMABLE INTO A GARDEN France, last quarter of the 18th - early 19th century (?) Walnut and resin frame; mahogany and mahogany veneer; gilt bronzes and zinc H. 72 cm, W. 41 cm, D. 35 cm Our small mahogany piece of furniture of an obvious practical sense, presents a geometrical decoration on all its faces of gilded bronzes drawing on the four panels a hexagonal motive underlined by rows of water leaves and oak leaves in clasps. The uprights are fluted and filleted with gilt bronze candles. They are extended by tapered legs joined by a spacer shelf surrounded by a bronze gallery decorated with openwork piastres, this motif is repeated all around the top. The absence of a stamp makes it impossible to identify the author of this jardinière. The quality of construction, the purity of the neoclassical forms and the richness of the bronzes indicate however a creation of a talented cabinetmaker of the reign of Louis XVI; one could thus bring this work closer to the work of Pierre Garnier (1726/27-1806), cabinetmaker who excelled in the realization of mahogany furniture in the great respect of the style of the end of the XVIIIth century. For example, the architectural rigour, reinforced by large areas of mahogany and the extensive use of bronzes, can be seen in a piece of vanity furniture in the Wallace Collection in London (fig. 1).
