Research:
Of limestone. The circular top divided into three concentric registers depicting the activity of townspeople in their daily pursuits, agriculture and farming, and celebration, with a central celestial roundel, all within a wave pattern on the molded edge. (Now resting on a bronzed and mahogany tri-pod,zoomorphic base, of a similar date but probably not original to the top).
Provenance:
A distinguished Southern Irish Collection
The design of this most unusual tabletop derives from the famous drawing of the Shield of Achilles by German painter Philipp Veit (1793–1877). The much-celebrated drawing, made in ink, watercolors and gold highlights on bright brown paper, was formerly in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main, but was lost during World War II.
Veit took up residence in Frankfurt around 1831 and soon launched into a period of intense creativity, during which he combined themes from antiquity with modern religious overtones to achieve great success. “His drawings miraculously combine the grace of antiquity with aspects of Christian/Germanic life.” Veit’s art was also influenced by literature, and he strove to convert the art of poetry into the art of painting and drawing. The Shield of Achilles falls into this body of work.
Aside from the original drawing, one run of lithographs of Veit’s Shield of Achilles is known to have been produced, executed in chalk lithography by Franz Heister (1813–1873), “using four lithography stones.” Today only one copy of the complete lithograph held by the Landesmuseum, Mainz, and one small fragment depicting shepherds and sheep in the Städel Institut are known to exist.
It is also notable that the medium of the top, Solnhofener stone, was and is today the only stone used for lithographic printing, considered the best material for lithographic printing plates worldwide since the invention of this process in 1798. The use of Solnhofener limestone to create a sculptural version of a work on paper for which the same Solnhofer stone was employed as the method of printing imbues the present top with an additional layer of symbolism and meaning, particularly when coupled with the fact that the drawing represented is that of Veit, a man so dedicated to the transformation of lithography as an artform.
Full research report available on request.