17th Century Tables

Very decorative and charming pair of console tables of Italian origin, the wooden silvered and cream painted bases with cabriole legs and scrolling ornaments supporting a cheerfully ...

Due to their utilitarian nature, surviving pairs of 17th century candle stands/torchères are extremely rare and generally only seen today in great houses. The quality of the marquetry decoration and the attention to detail indicate that these candle stands were probably made for a substantial household. The turned stems displays the skill of the turner, and create fluidity, variety of form, emphasing the quality of the solid walnut grain and the floral inlay as well as holding and balancing the form of the top. The sweeping, scroll feet balance the proportion and fluidity of the candle stands/torchères, giving them presence. They are sturdy and in excellent condition. Virtually identical turnings and form. Both with octagonal tops, one with a central marquetry floral spray, the other plain. The upper sections with solid walnut baluster and ring turnings leading into lower octagonal sections decorated with marquetry floral sprays repeated 3 times. The stems supported by octagonal blocks with a repeat of the floral spray and scroll tripod bases with two floral sprays on the upper facing sections. Excellent original colour and patina. English. Height 96cm, Top diameter 29cm Moveable stands to support a candlestick or lamp were intended to supplement the fixed lighting arrangements of rooms. The evidence of inventories suggests that they did not become common in France until about 1650 when they accompanied fine tables and cabinets. Such stands, being sometimes in the form of gueridons. The fashion for decorative candlestands spread rapidly after the Restoration, when they were often made en-suite to flank a sidetable with a mirror above. Such sets are mentioned in lists of household goods and by contemporary writers. In 1664, for instance, Mary Verney is anxious to obtain “a table and stands of the same coler”. The Academy of Armory, published in 1688, defines a candle-stand as a “little round table...

- Rare small, low 24" high Bologna rent table with sliding top - Stunning, finely figured 1.5inch, 4cm thick, original sliding top - Characteristic Bologna turnings and ornamentat...

A beautiful Italian 17th century Tuscan st. Walnut desk/side table. The two drawer desk is raised by sleek rectangular tapered legs at a most decorative slanted angle connected by a ...

Very charming alpine table of late Gothic design, the one plank top supported by sides ending in shoe feet with simple decoration, one drawer above a conn...

Removable travel table Spain walnut. Wrought iron nails triangular head.

A fine Dutch walnut, kingwood and marquetry side table, the top late 17th-early 18th century and later, in the manner of Jan van Mekeren. With a later base, rectangular, inlaid with a design of a fruit basket and flowers surmounted by a bird, within a ground acanthus leaves, lozenge and flowerhead, cross-banded borders, long single drawer ensuite, tapering legs. Provenance: formerly the dressing table of Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe.

A superb one piece top spanish walnut table with original metal work supports and silhouette legs. Great color and patination.

A William and Mary Walnut Table 17th Century Height 29 x width 47 1/2 x depth 28 inches. would look great in a library or in a guest bede...

A spectacular and most impressive pair of Italian Louis XIV period 17th century pedestal tables. The pair of tables are handsomely raised by square Rosso Levanto marble bases with co...

French gate-leg table, circa 1650. Oak with metal fittings. Measures: Height 28 ¼“ width 54“ depth 20 ½“ / 41 ½“/ 62“ $20,000. This solid oak French Baroque table...

A very handsome and unique Italian 17th century Louis XIV Period walnut consoles/center table from Florence. The consoles may be displayed seperately or when placed back to back may ...

An Extremely Rare Pair of William and Mary Side Tables, with original Carrara Marble Tops Carefully stripped to reveal the scintilla remnants of the original black japanned surface;...

Among the most beautiful examples of hardstone artistry that have ever entered our collection, these important Grand Ducal pietre dure console tables are in a class all their own. Their powerful architectural elegance, impressive size and rarity make them two of the finest hardstone masterpieces ever created and quite possibly the greatest pair of pietre dure tables in existence. With their naturalistically rendered flowers and birds, these tabletop panels showcase the particularly fine quality craftsmanship of the Grand Ducal workshops in Florence during the first quarter of the 17th century. Grand Duke Ferdinando I de Medici, one of the most important personages in the annals of art history, established the Grand Ducal Workshop in 1588. The workshop specialized in the art of pietre dure developed from the ancient art of opus sectile, giving rise to the most luxurious and detailed examples of hardstone artistry ever produced. Its patrons were the Popes and Royals of Europe, and the quality of the objects produced in the workshop is without equal. Typically, because of the high level of workmanship the art form requires, pietre dure plaques were crafted in small sizes. The great majority of known examples of pietre dure are a fraction of the size of our grand tables. The combination of pietre dure and extensive use of other rare decorative hardstones such as lapis lazuli and pietra paesina or “ruin marble” meant that these tabletops were surely produced for a wealthy collector. The tables are further distinguished by their superbly carved bases by Andrea Brustolon, known as the “Michelangelo of wood.” Brustolon was a Venetian wood sculptor known for his exuberant and intricate Baroque furniture. His high Baroque style was influenced by his years studying in Rome, where he was exposed to the sculpture of Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Crafted in the early 18th century, these bases display Brusolon’s unmatched talent for both figural and foliate work, combining cupids, masks and oversized scrolling vines for a grand, ornate effect. Similar furnishings by Brustolon are held in museums worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, the National Museum of Scotland and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while the Ca' Rezzonico Museum in Venice features an entire room dedicated to the sculptor. For approximately 150 years, these tables were part of the famed Stoneleigh Abbey collection owned by the Lord Leigh family. This renowned English country estate inspired Jane Austen to write Mansfield Park. Lord Leigh eventually sold the tables at Christie’s London in 1962, and the pair have stayed in the collection of the same Florentine family who purchased them from Christie's until we recently acquired them. Our tables are prominently pictured in the important Saul Levy book Il Mobile Veneziano del Settencento. The pietre dure plaques date circa 1625-1650. The decorative tops likely would have originally been sold with a pair of plain stone columns to display them, and Lord Leigh would have commissioned the custom bases from Brustolon circa 1714 when he added the impressive four-story fifteen-bay Baroque West Wing to Stoneleigh Abbey. A similar single Grand Ducal tabletop is in the United Kingdom’s National Trust Collection, and a smaller tabletop resides in Buckingham Palace. The flower and bird panels in our examples relate to the famous Badminton Cabinet...

Spectacular long, rustic and very decorative Elizabethan Refectory table, well suited as console or library table or for casual dining. The...