18 th French fine Tripod pedestal table in gilded bronze

Tripod pedestal table in gilded bronze, Paris around 1790.

Rare finely chiseled bronze pedestal table gilded with mercury.
The nervously twisted uprights ending in lion's legs are connected to each other by two spacers, one in bronze at the bottom and a smaller one in the central part, acting as a shelf.
The latter is made of sea green marble surrounded by a finely guilloche bronze ingot mold.
The top of the uprights terminated by external windings which support the Egyptian tiger granite top, also encircled by an ingot mold reminiscent of that of the tablet.

Frame of the table top in solid oak.

Perfect condition, original mercury gilding still very fresh and extreme delicacy of the carving.

Parisian work from the end of the 18th century around 1790-1800.

Dimensions:

Height: 78.5 cm; Diameter: 39.5 cm

Our opinion :

The rare pedestal table that we present is a very fine example of metal furniture made in Paris at the end of the 18th century for the elite of society.
Under the impetus of very great craftsmen such as Gouthière, Pitoin, Remond or Thomire, furnishing bronze will experience considerable growth.
This golden age will of course be that of clocks and lights but also that of much more opulent pieces, the fruit of the collaboration of bronziers with other craftsmen, whether with porcelain and crystal manufactures or with cabinetmakers who put at the point of furniture where bronze dominates.
We can of course cite the collaboration of Thomire and Adam Weisweiler for pedestal tables with bamboo barrels combining Thuja wood and gilded bronze.
But others went even further, creating metal furniture entirely made of bronze, the shapes of which revisit Roman and Etruscan productions of antiquity.
These pieces are often decorated with stone trays resulting from excavations brought back mainly from the campaigns of Italy and Egypt, such as porphyry or here the "tiger" granite which covers our pedestal table.
Obviously this production is extremely expensive and requires significant resources, which intends it only for a princely elite.
With its very fine carving and its fluid and refined shape, our pedestal table perfectly symbolizes French "chic" and in our eyes represents the quintessence of bronze art at the end of the 18th century in France.