An elegant two-tier tea table in mahogany with gilt bronze figures circa 1870

An elegant two-tier tea table in mahogany with richly chased gilt bronze mounts.

Paris, circa 1870.

The rectangular upper tier with rounded canted corners is framed by a gilt bronze gallery rail and supported by four freestanding gilt bronze caryatid figures of classical standing females in antique dress, arms raised, standing upon the lower tier. The lower tier of conforming form rests on an apron mounted with a continuous laurel leaf swag suspended from rosette paterae, with six-pointed star mounts at the angles. The four circular tapered legs are mounted with foliate capital collars and terminate in acanthus leaf sabots on casters. The quality of casting and the overall decorative programme are characteristic of the finest Parisian ébénisterie of the second half of the 19th century, in the manner of Sormani and the circle of Linke.

The figural type of standing caryatids bearing a tier derives from the Empire period prototype executed by Jacob-Desmalter in 1808 for the bedroom of Caroline Murat at the Élysée Palace, subsequently transferred to the Grand Trianon where it remains today.

Dimensions: H. 95 cm — W. 87 cm — D. 56 cm

Literature: D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIXe siècle, Paris 1989/2000, pp. 267–350; C. Mestdagh & P. Lécoules, L'Ameublement d'Art Français 1850–1900, Paris 2010, pp. 296–299.