Research:
Of gilt and painted wood. The ovoid top set with two carefully conserved gouache painted fan leaves and central oval picture laid onto a gold ground beneath glass, within a gilt brass frame, above a frieze applied with alternating palmette, star, and classical foliate carving, raised on three lion monopod legs joined by a triangular platform set with a star motif.
The design for the present table clearly derives from ancient Roman prototypes in bronze, and represented in painted frescoes, as found in excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum which began in earnest circa 1738. These new forms were enthusiastically incorporated into English furniture designs, however, the designer here has strayed from strict classical authenticity to achieve a profound sense of moment by cleverly exaggerating the shapeliness of the three monopod legs. This form can be witnessed in George Smith’s work; his iconic design for “Drawing Room Chairs” with continuous lion monopod front legs culminating in arm supports are particularly interesting as they employ the same decoration in the realized chairs of dark green bronzing and parcel gilt as seen on the present table.
The table itself was designed as a vehicle for the display of neoclassical works of art in the form of two late eighteenth (or early nineteenth) century fan leaves. Its oval top is slightly tapered in profile to conform to the leaves, which surround a central painted vignette, giving the top a somewhat ocular appearance. “From the 1770s onward, the flourishing tourist art market in Rome stimulated the production of painted fan leaves that depicted well known monuments [and archaeological discoveries] of Roman antiquity.” For Grand Tourists making their journey around Europe, particularly Italy, fans and fan leaves were popular souvenirs and the main centers of fan-leaf production for travelers were Rome and Naples. Some were mounted onto sticks as proper fans in Italy, but very often the leaves alone were purchased to be mounted in their home country. The particular style of decoration of the present fan leaves is found in the work of Italian decorative painter, Tommaso Bigatti, active in Italy in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Little biographical information exists for this artist, but he is known for his mural compositions and landscapes, as well as fan designs incorporating similar subjects.
Grand Tour fan leaves served as visual representations positioned at the intersection of traveling, collecting, and recollecting; they depicted sites and objects viewed firsthand on a tourist’s travels, were a physical souvenir to take home, and an aide-memoire of the time abroad. Coupled with the table’s innovative classical form, whoever commissioned the the piece selected its design and decoration for an interior setting at the vanguard of Regency style and taste.
Full research report available on request.