A Louis XV Style Marquetry Pedestal

Description

A Louis XV Style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Marquetry Pedestal, With Marble Top.

The fleur de pêcher marble top sits on a spreading pediment above a bombé-shaped body decorated with end-cut foliate marquetry. The angles with leaf scroll clasps. The apron centred by a dolphin between bullrushes. On scrolled feet.

France, Circa 1890.

The gilt-bronze mount of a dolphin is especially stylistically impressive. It is a symbol of the dauphins of France, heirs to the throne. The pedestal is designed in the curvaceous rococo style and has the feel of a collaboration between the sculptor Léon Messagé and the cabinetmaker François Linke. Although unsigned this pedestal has the look of Linke and, more specifically, the maker Schmit to whom Linke supplied furniture carcasses which Schmit embellished and finished. A cabinet in this vein by Schmit, also with dolphin mounts, is illustrated in Payne, Christopher. Paris Furniture: The Luxury Market of the 19th Century, Editions Monelle Hayot, Paris, 2018; p. 508.