Lacquered and gilded center tray table, Turin, Baroque period, 18th century

Lacquered and gilded center tray table, Turin, Baroque period, 18th century Dimensions: cm H 62 x W 90 x D 54 Price: private negotiation Object accompanied by our certificate of authenticity This Baroque lacquered and gilded wood table was made in Turin in the 18th century according to the characteristic taste widespread in France during the Louis XIV period. The center table, that is, finished on all four sides and therefore can be placed in the center of a room, consists of a tray top and a structure with four arched legs connected to each other by a curved crosspiece. The top was originally used as a tray on which to place food and glasses, removable and liftable thanks to the two side grips and positionable, thanks to the presence of four feet, on a table or console. Today screwed to its base for greater safety and stability, it is still possible to foresee its original use. The tray has a curved and mixtilinear profile, with side grips decorated with rich gilded carvings in a vegetal shape with a fan element, spirals, volutes and leaves. A carved frame follows, inside the top, the profile of the tray. In the center of the top is depicted, using cast and gilded plaster in relief that gives depth, a landscape with classical-style architecture and figures in 18th-century noble attire in a context embellished with details such as plants and small vegetation, animals, a fountain and, in the space of the sky, some swallows in flight. This decoration is inserted within a space delineated by decorations with volutes and curls and leafy elements, also made of cast and gilded plaster. In the under-top band, a repeated series of gilded elements that simulate a fabric, called lambrequins, runs along the profile. The legs originate from a large volute, on which the top rests, on whose projecting side are carved the heads of winged cherubs and leaf elements, which are repeated in other points of the legs. The feet are in the shape of a curl with acanthus leaves and the crossbar, at the central meeting point, is crowned by a large gilded wooden sculpture composed of large leaves and flowers. This tray table is particularly decorative and, thanks to the light coloring and gold leaf, very bright and valuable. Easily placed in a room between armchairs or sofas, it can also be placed near a corner, in a study or in an entrance.