Baroque Side Tables

Good 17th Century Italian walnut stretcher base table, the single walnut plank top with dovetailed cleats over single drawer having turned knob and standing on boldly turned legs joi...

An early 18th century English oak side table having molded edge three plank top with large overhang over single drawer with three molded panels having two brass drop pulls and centra...

A French baroque single drawer side table in walnut having molded top above single drawer with triangular ring pull. Legs and stretcher retaining ebonized highlights and with particu...

Early 19th century Regency games table, the moulded specimen top of square form with gadrooned and crossbanded rim. Inlaid ebonized line inl...

Lovely Charles II period English oak side table. The richly patinated oak top with heavy thumb molded edge over single drawer with double molded panels standing on block and ball tur...

Fine William and Mary period English oak side table, the thumb molded top with ogee shaped under molding, the single drawer having line inlaid panels and half round molded facade, ov...

Good English 17th century oak side table, the two plank top having thumb molded edge, over single drawer with geometric panels surrounded by applied fruitwood bosses and cabochons, o...

Rare and quirky early 18th Century Welsh oval tilt top table with birdcage mechanism, the richly patinated two plank top over, balustrade turned birdcage and vernacularly fashioned l...

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...