 |
 |
 |
|
|
WELCOME TO PELHAM GALLERIES |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| A Pair of Genoese Rococo Polychrome Console Tables
|
Circa 1760
Height: 2 ft. 7 in. (79 cm)
Width: 3 ft. ½ in. (93 cm)
Depth: 1 ft. 7 in. (48 cm)
|
| |
|
Decorated overall in pale green, turquoise and red, the later red marble tops of serpentine form above a moulded serpentine frieze with a central pierced rocaille and double C-scroll cartouche headed by a cabochon and with a floral pendant flanked by acanthus scrolls, the side friezes with acanthus cartouches centred by cabochons, on four moulded cabriole legs headed by bold acanthus scrolls above trailing bellflower sprays on scroll feet.
This beautifully drawn pair of consoles ranks among the finest surviving examples of Genoese polychrome furniture of the third quarter of the eighteenth century. Although their exuberant form is inspired by rococo furniture design in Turin and Paris, the use of vibrantly and on occasion startlingly coloured surfaces is a particularly Genoese trait, more influenced by Venetian taste. A green and gold console table in the Palazzo Doria in Genoa is illustrated in Enrico Colle, Il Mobile Rococò in Italia (Milan 2003), p.267, and an extraordinary side table in green yellow, pink and silver with very similar floral sprays on the legs to those on the present tables, formerly in the Palazzo Durazzo, Genoa, is illustrated in Helen Constantino Fioratti, Il Mobile Italiano (Milan 2004), fig.285, p.175. Further related examples in private collections are illustrated in Alvar González-Palacios, Il Mobile in Liguria (Genoa 1996), fig.248, p.217 and fig.251, p.219, and in Lelio Canonero, Barochetto Genovese (Milan 1962), plates XVI and LV.
Another particularly distinctive Genoese characteristic is the prominent overhanging acanthus scroll at the top of the legs, which was often used on both polychrome and giltwood console tables, several examples of which, emanating from diverse Genoese palaces, are illustrated in Colle, op. cit., p.264-66.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|