Center table

The molded apron of the overhanging plain top is decorated with stylized palmette edging. Two shaped lateral supports, each with two caryatids ending in bold lion’s claw feet carved in full relief, are joined by a single delicately carved stretcher decorated with a central oblong rosette, scrollwork cartouche, and guilloche ornamentation on each side. The sturdy supports bearing heraldic devices, along with the size and rich decor of the table, aptly expressed the social status of its owner. Much attention was also given to the top. Single massive wide boards of aged walnut were rare and as a result, were often reused or enlarged by four mitered framing boards attached with broad wood pegs. The top of the Lehman table lacks the appropriate thickness, resulting in an unsatisfactory proportion to the heavily carved supports and the stretcher with its bold center. The addition of a plain recessed apron with base molding falls short of significantly balancing the table’s constructive elements. The premise behind the construction was to attach the stretcher to the piers and fasten it by means of wedges. This approach stemmed from the tradition of taking flat boards with two or more trestles and covering them with precious cloth to create a flexible surface size and individual shapings for the table, such as the form of an L or a U-shape.(1) An important advantage was that all parts could be quickly dismantled and cleared away when not needed. This kind of table with sturdy supports derives from ancient Roman prototypes carved in marble.(2) Numerous carved walnut tables of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries survive, and it is likely that the type was found throughout the Italian peninsula.(3) In the nineteenth century the type was often called a refectory table, alluding to the idealistic perception of a possible monastic origin.(4)

Catalogue entry from: Wolfram Koeppe. The Robert Lehman Collection. Decorative Arts, Vol. XV. Wolfram Koeppe, et al. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 275-76.


NOTES:
1. Schottmüller, Frida. Furniture and Interior Decoration of the Italian Renaissance. 2nd ed. Stuttgart, 1928, pp. xxvii – xxix; Thornton, Peter. The Italian Renaissance Interior, 1400 – 1600. New York, 1991, pp. 205 – 19 (with a comprehensive introduction to the subject).
2. Ancient frescoes depict tables that may have been made out of wood; however, these have not survived. For additional tables with comparable supports, see Schottmüller, p. xxii, fig. 18; DuBon, David. “Renaissance Furniture: Sixteenth-Century Italian and French.” In The Frick Collection: An Illustrated Catalogue, vol. 5, Furniture: Italian and French, edited by Joseph Focarino, pp. 3 – 183. New York, 1992, pp. 56 – 62; see also the Farnese table in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 58.57a – d (Kisluk-Grosheide, Danielle O., Wolfram Koeppe, and William Rieder. European Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Highlights of the Collection. New York, 2006, pp. 23 – 25, no. 7; The Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe. Exhibition, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1 July – 21 September 2008. Catalogue edited by Wolfram Koeppe. New York, pp. 120 – 22, no. 10). See DuBon, pp. 63 – 65, for a discussion of related works composed partly of refinished old elements.
3. Schottmüller, pp. 18, 240 – 41, fig. 58, and pp. 137 – 39, 246, figs. 307 – 11.
4. Paolini, Claudio. Il mobile del Rinascimento: La collezione Herbert Percy Horne. Florence, 2002, p. 112, no. 46.

Sale, American Art Association, Anderson Galleries, New York, 15-16 January 1932, lot 527, ill. Acquired by Robert Lehman from the 1932 sale.