An Italian neoclassical carved giltwood console table, Genoa, late 18th century

Pelham Paris, 10 July 2015

The architectural structure of this console table belongs to a small group of console tables typical of Genoese craftsmanship in the late 18th century. With marble tops supported by two, or sometimes even only one leg, as in the case here, these console tables were often surmounted by a mirror featuring related mouldings.

A related giltwood example also on a simulated marble platform base, and with egg-and-dart friezes, fluting and acanthus leaves is illustrated in Alvar González-Palacios, Il Mobile in Liguria, 1996, p.305, fig.357. A similar construction is also found on a demi-lune console table in Palazzo Reale, Genoa (illustrated in G. Morazzoni, Il mobile Neoclassico Italiano, Milan, 1955, pl. CXL, ill. b.); as well as on a Genoese table offered Christie’s London, 11 November 2004, lot 85, a pair of small Genoese tables from the collections of the Comte and Comtesse Decazes, Chantilly (sold Christie’s Paris, 16 November 2006, lot 262) and a table sold at Sotheby’s, London, 23 May 2023, lot 71.