Console Table with Scagliola Top
no 1015
Description
Console table with a Scagliola top, supported by four angular, tapered legs, with gilded decorations on the protruding elements. The wide frame is decorated with gilded Greek geometric patterns and smaller floral rosettes. The top features a Scagliola top. This is a typical design for a console or wall table (called a pier table) with a representative character.
Wooden construction with gilding and polychrome, top is made using the Scagliola technique, 20th-century Italy.
Scagliola (originating in Italy and developed from the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries) is an ingenious, extremely labor-intensive artistic technique intended to imitate expensive and difficult-to-work mosaics made of semi-precious stones (called pietra dura). The name comes from scaglia – a specific variety of gypsum (selonite) found in the Emilia-Romagna region.
The perfectly smooth, mirror-like surface, which is strikingly reminiscent of marble and rare minerals, allowed the artist much greater freedom in pictorial shading, as exemplified by the floral motifs and central medallion on this table.
Scagliola tabletops were very expensive and were treated as works of art – equivalent to paintings. The higher base allowed anyone standing at the table or passing by to admire the intricate pattern from a better angle, without having to bend down significantly.
Such tables were not designed for sitting on chairs. They were placed in living rooms, stately halls, or palace galleries – most often against a wall, very often under a large mirror. They were used to display luxurious objects: expensive candlesticks, mantel clocks, vases, or porcelain. Moreover, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, higher tables were also used in living rooms as so-called buffet tables during receptions for serving drinks or snacks while standing, or as tables at which people stood to browse albums, engravings, or guest books.
Size
92 x 140 x 86 cm
Price
11500 zł