Fine French Lyre Support Mahogany Centre Table, 2nd Quarter of the 19th Century c.1830

Fine French Lyre Support Mahogany Centre Table, 2nd Quarter of the 19th Century c.1830 The table with a waisted plinth or platform base, the concave shaping allowing chairs to be placed either side if required. From the platform two lyre-shaped supports of unusual delicacy link to the fine plain frieze, veneered in mahogany of fine figure and colour. The table top is a white and grey veined marble which is a replacement specially chosen to complement the colour of the table base. The lyre support became popular around the turn of the 19th century across the western world, a refined form of neoclassicism harking back to the lyres of Orpheus and a staple of much neoclassical decoration. The lyres on the present table are particularly vigorously shaped, the frames with panel moulding on the fronts and backs and fluting on the sides. The strings of the lyres are executed in gilded bronze, as are the leaf mounts which link the lyres to the stepped bases upon which they stand. The combination of opulent ormolu with finely polished mahogany is a luxurious one, particularly in combination with the marble top. The present table is finished on all sides, meaning that it is freestanding and can be used in the centre of a room. Most tables of associated form were designed as side or console tables that would have stood against a wall and the present variation on the form is an unusual one. During the course of our research we discovered a work table of associated form but much smaller scale, this also being freestanding, The combination of classical motifs with more curves and fewer austere straight lines is something of a trademark of French furniture of the Charles X or early Louis Philippe period and the present piece would have been produced by an important maker of the period as is clear from the quality of the construction of the present piece, its refined design and the quality of the ornamentation employed throughout.