Offered by Franck Baptiste Paris
Rare and important pair of ceremonial console tables with all four seasons.
Each carved wooden, lacquered and gilded console represents two seasons in the form of a couple with
human figures. The allegories lie on a rocky mound; Their bodies, simply dressed in antique drapery, are
intertwined and support the thick stone trays.
The first console depicts summer in the form of a young man crowned with ears of wheat, accompanied by a
young woman whose floral attributes symbolize spring. Summer holds the heavy tray with both hands laden
with wheat, while her companion supports it only with one arm, the other being occupied in tenderly
embracing it.
The second console symbolizes autumn in the form of a woman with her hands and crown laden with
grapes. She supports the tray with both hands, while at her side, a chilly old man symbolizing winter helps
her with one hand and presents her with a flaming torch with the other to warm her. Their legs delicately
entwined evoke a tender complicity.
Resinous wood (probably "Pinus Pinea", the Roman parasol painter) lacquered white for the body, brown for
the rocky mounds and gilded with leaf for the drapes and attributes of the seasons. Thick top of volcanic tuff
veneered with African marble*.
Well preserved, original lacquer and marble, the drapery re-gilded later.
Roman work circa 1700.
Size: Height: 99.5 cm; Width: 158.5cm; Depth: 73 cm
Thickness of the trays: 5,5 cm
Provenance:
Drouot Paris sale, 26 April 1989 (634,800 francs); A table illustrated in the Drouot catalog of the best results
of the year 1989.
Our opinion:
Our pair of tables in the four seasons represent the quintessence of Roman Baroque art.
The main figures of our legs were intended to present the luxurious antique marble tops as well as the
collections of bronzes and busts that were placed on them.
Generally positioned in the great galleries of Roman palaces, they allowed the public to admire the
collections and thus assert the power of their owners.
The finest example of this art can be found in the Palazzo Colonna, in the seventy-six-meter long gallery,
which probably inspired the Sun King for his palace of Versailles.
The presence of the original furniture still allows us to admire the series of large consoles with the figures of
captives that take place on either side of the gallery.
Unfortunate Turks, defeated at the Battle of Lepanto by Marcantonio Colonna, are condemned to endure the
heavy trays of ancient alabaster and the endless series of busts of Roman emperors placed on them.
If this gallery is among the very first examples of this type, it has the merit of having a preserved original
decoration, we know that other galleries, such as that of the ducal palace of Mantua, were furnished in the
same way.
It is also very likely that most of the important galleries such as those of the Doria Pamphili, Corsini,
Farnese... sported such consoles before being brought up to date with more classic console series.
The extreme rarity of this type of table also comes from the fact that they require very large sections of wood
as well as precious ancient marble that all the Roman nobility disputed.
Finally, it was necessary to hire a great sculptor because a simple carpenter could not carry out such a
sculptural work where proportions and grace are paramount.
Often the very harsh theme of the captive or slave grimacing under the weight of his load is used for this
type of work, but our consoles present figures with a playful and laughing air that bear the weight with great
joy.
The theme of the four seasons is important in the agricultural region of Lazio that surrounds the hills of
Rome, but it also has a double meaning by symbolizing the different ages of life and acting as a memento
mori, which is a very important notion of Christian Rome.
The Africano or African marble is a breccia marble that was one of the most prestigious rocks in Roman
times, it was called "Marmor Luculleum".
Its name was given to it, because Lucullus was the first who introduced the use of it into Rome, after having
brought it back from Egypt. There are several kinds, predominantly green from Africa, or a pink variety that
comes from Theos' quarry in Turkey.
Exported from the time of Augustus, it was widely used (Theatre of Marcellus; Pantheon, Forum, Temple of
Peace...) to the point that careers will quickly be exhausted. A particularly decorative luxury marble, it was
then recovered during the incessant excavations of Rome, in order to be reused, often in the state of veneer,
to save the precious material.
