A pair of Louis XVI painted wood pedestals "aux guirlandes", circa 1780

Koller, Zurich, 26 March 2015, lot 1316

These columns are characteristic of the Neoclassical style that prevailed during the reign of Louis XVI, and in particular of the Greek Revival style, with antique columns, Greek key patterns, or broad laurel wreaths. The first piece of furniture in this style is the famous flat-top desk by A. Lalive de Jully, now in the Musée Condé at Chantilly, reproduced in A. Forray-Carlier, Le Mobilier du Musée du Château de Chantilly, Dijon, 2010, pp. 56–59. The Count also kept four pedestals in his collection, also in faux marble, adorned with similar garlands, reproduced in J. Whitehead, The French Interior in the Eighteenth Century, London, 1992, p. 97.