Object Description
This is a stunning antique Dutch walnut and floral marquetry inlaid circular centre / occasional table, circa 1820.
It has been accomplished in rich walnut with exquisite hand cut marquetry of flowers and acanthus scrolls, the removable round top sits on six flared, leaf shaped supports and balls, on a hexagonal platform with angled feet and recessed drum castors.
It is raised on a tapering column richly inlaid with trailing flowers on a triform base.
It bears a printed depository label of J Tonks & Sons.
Condition:
In really excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned, polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 78 x Width 73 x Depth 73
Dimensions in inches:
Height 2 foot, 7 inches x Width 2 foot, 5 inches x Depth 2 foot, 5 inches
Marquetry
is decorative artistry where pieces of material (such as wood, , pewter, brass silver or exotic veneers) of different colours are inserted into surface wood veneer to form intricate patterns such as scrolls or flowers.
The technique of veneered marquetry had its inspiration in 16th century Florence. Marquetry elaborated upon Florentine techniques of inlaying solid marble slabs with designs formed of fitted marbles, jaspers and semi-precious stones. This work, called opere di commessi, has medieval parallels in Central Italian “Cosmati”-work of inlaid marble floors, altars and columns. The technique is known in English as pietra dura, for the “hardstones” used: onyx, jasper, cornelian, lapis lazuli and colored marbles. In Florence, the Chapel of the Medici at San Lorenzo is completely covered in a colored marble facing using this demanding jig-sawn technique.
Techniques of wood marquetry were developed in Antwerp and other Flemish centers of luxury cabinet-making during the early 16th century. The craft was imported full-blown to France after the mid-seventeenth century, to create furniture of unprecedented luxury being made at the royal manufactory of the Gobelins, charged with providing furnishings to decorate Versailles and the other royal residences of Louis XIV. Early masters of French marquetry were the Fleming Pierre Golle and his son-in-law, André-Charles Boulle, who founded a dynasty of royal and Parisian cabinet-makers (ébénistes) and gave his name to a technique of marquetry employing brass with pewter in arabesque or intricately foliate designs.
Our reference: A2590