Object Description
This is a beautiful antique French ormolu mounted flame mahogany side table, circa 1870 in date.
It has been masterfully crafted from flame mahogany with striking gilded ormolu mounts of the highest qualit. Itt has a useful and capacious frieze drawer.
The top is beautifully quarter veneered to highlight the flame of the mahogany and crossbanded and it has a stunning ormolu border. It is raised on four elegant turned and fluted legs with decorative ormolu mounts.
Condition:
In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned and French polished in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.
Dimensions in cm:
Height 76 x Width 90 x Depth 58
Dimensions in inches:
Height 29.9 x Width 35.4 x Depth 22.8
Flame Mahogany
Thomas Sheraton – 18th century furniture designer, once characterized mahogany as “best suited to furniture where strength is demanded as well as a wood that works up easily, has a beautiful figure and polishes so well that it is an ornament to any room in which it may be placed.” Matching his words to his work, Sheraton designed much mahogany furniture. The qualities that impressed Sheraton are particularly evident in a distinctive pattern of wood called “flame mahogany.”
The flame figure in the wood is revealed by slicing through the face of the branch at the point where it joins another element of the tree.
Ormolu – (from French ‘or moulu’, signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as ‘gilt bronze’.
The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.
Our reference: 08443