Italian console table, XVIIIe s

In carved and gilded wood, the belt and sides adorned with a central mantling motif decorated with a mascaron with a woman's head on a lattice background. It stands on four highly arched legs surmounted by a female bust terminating in hooves and an acanthus leaf. Sicilian Jasper top


Sicilian jasper is a hard stone considered the most widely used for major works in Florence in the early years of the 17th century. The Medici family was responsible for importing it to Florence, and covered the walls of the Princes' Chapel with it.
Very little of this stone is found on the market, as the vein must have dried up very quickly after the decoration of the Princes' Chapel, which monopolized most of the extraction.
A few old blocks, most probably dating from the "Medici" period of the Grand Ducal Manufactory of Hard Stones in Florence, circulated in the 17th and early 18th centuries.
The Wallace Collection in London preserves Sicilian jasper objects adorned with gilded bronzes, including a fabulous cassolette mounted by Gouthière, which belonged first to the Duc d'Aumont, then to Queen Marie-Antoinette.