Late 19th Century French Gilt Bronze & Marble Gueridon

Fine quality early 20th Century French gilt bronze and marble two tier French Gueridon with neoclassical detailing. Conceived in the late Louis XVI style, this table fuses the finest materials with exceptional design. Made from gilt bronze with two tiers of inset marble, this is a luxury piece of furniture and no expense was spared in its construction. It was almost certainly made in Paris around the turn of the 20th century by one of the major workshops there. Having a tripartite platform stretcher base which has been finely pierced and adorned by a cast gilt bronze urn in the form of a flaming cassolette or perfume burner with rams' head and feet and the larger table utilises this same decorative scheme. The feet are finely chased hooves, applied as an additional mounts to the gilt bronze legs in the form of sabots, and on the frieze at the top of the table are three quite wonderfully well observed and executed rams' heads of particularly large and important size. The rest of the frame of the table, comprising of two tiers mounted in gilt bronze with everted half beaded rims and three leg supports, also with beaded detail, is of uniformly high quality as well. Two tier gueridons are more unusual than their single tier equivalents and what also catches the eye here is the uncommon choice of marble possibly Lumachella marble. Both tiers utilise examples of the same stone, a finely veined creamish-yellow stone with veins of pink, orange and brown. The combination of the colours of the marble and the gilded bronze is a very effective one. Our piece is a fine and decorative example with bronze work of the highest quality and would enhance any collection.