A matched pair of Italian gilt-bronze and gilt-brass mounted kingwood and amaranth veneered console tables, probably Sicily, mid-18th century

This superb pair of boldly-shaped console tables (tavoline da muro) with their distinctive profile and striking trellis-parquetry exemplifies the refined elegance characteristic of Italian furniture. They display an exceptional quality of inlay and a sophisticated use of exotic woods, subtly enriched by brass mounts. The design is further defined by a fluid sinuosity, as if shaped by a single, uninterrupted line, lending the tables a remarkable sense of harmony and grace.

These tables showcase the unique Rococo style of Italy. Though Paris was the epicenter of the Rococo, it transmitted the dictums of the style across the continent and reshaped Italy and its regional styles. However, Italian architects and craftsmen did not digest the Parisian Rococo aesthetic as presented to them by France and certainly created unique versions of the style as visible here.

The distinctive brass frieze underneath the top and scrolls to the apron are often found on Sicilian furniture -see Mario Giarrizzo and Aldo Rotolo, Il Mobile Siciliano, 2004, pp. 62-63, p.66. The type of kingwood trelliswork parquetry employed here is found on Sicilian furniture, but also Piedmontese and Roman furniture.