A Neoclassical silver table centrepiece
Silver, glass, softwood, solid walnut, wrought iron. Three-piece table centrepiece for the dessert course. The tray rounded on either side and with a mirrored upper face, resting on 18 narrow claw-and-ball feet. With moulded edges applied with 28 raised laurel festoons attached to rosette reliefs and eight oval plaques with female busts in profile. The upper rim with a raised beaded moulding, small pilasters at the angles. H c. 8.5, W c. 48.5, D 194 cm.
Northern Italy, circa 1840.
Stefan Bursche describes the first surviving centrepiece at the court of Louis XIV as: "Vaiselle que le Roy a fait faire en 1694 pour porter en campagne sur un surtout". The surtout was used as a decorative stand for candles, salts, spice cruets, vinegar, oil and sauces, placed in the centre of the table to prevent clutter. The first of these objects were made of silver and of a pyramidal form. They were arranged around, for example, a central tureen depending on which course was being served. Juste-Aurèle Meissonier (1695 - 1750), a multi-talented French Rococo artisan, helped set new standards in dining culture by designing every table object down to the most minute detail. His works influenced goldsmiths across the whole of Europe.
With the increase in European porcelain production, flatter centrepieces were needed on which figures could be placed. The mirrors served to intensify the brightness of candlelight so that more details could be seen. When Pompeii fever gripped European courts in the 1760s, Baroque centrepieces disappeared and were replaced by miniature replicas of Roman sculptures, vases, and architectural monuments designed to spark conversation. The publications of the designer duo Charles Percier (1764 - 1838) and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine (1762 - 1853), who furnished the Emperor's palaces, provided inspiration for the decoration and design of furniture and dinner ware.
Centrepieces in the form of a raised tray with gallery edging in fire-gilt bronze were then favoured. One of the most famous manufacturers was the Parisian bronze caster and sculptor Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751 - 1843). In Italy, Filippo Pelagio Palagi (1775 - 1860), a Bologna-born painter and sculptor by training, became the leading designer of interior decorations. From 1832 onwards, he began the expansion of Racconigi Castle, and in 1834 he was charged with overseeing the restoration of the Castello di Pollenzo and the modernization of the Royal Palace of Turin. The motifs that decorate this Italian centrepiece are heavily influenced by his works.
Literature
Cf. Bursche, Tafelzier des Barock, Munich 1974, p. 33 ff. Cf. Colle/ Griseri/ Valeriani, Bronzi Decorativi in Italia. Bronzisti e Fonditori Italiani dal Seicento all´Ottocento, Milan 2001, no. 107, for the apron of a bench in the Palazzo Reale in Turin cast by the bronze casters Giovanni Colla and Chiaffredo Odetti after a design by Pelagio Palagi, 1838.