Back to search results

KIDNEY-SHAPED WRITING TABLE

Creator(s): Unknown (Cabinet Maker)

Currently in storage


About this object

Kidney-shaped table with marquetry top and sides. Design is a neoclassical composition with a simple urn on a foot at the center. From the neck of the urn spring scrolling, flowering vines and three stalks of wheat in a symmetrical composition. This central motif is contained within a circular band of a highly figured darker wood and a less figured lighter wood (ash or lime wood?). On either side of this are two flowering vines resembling horns of plenty. From the horns spring more scrolling, flowering vines with three stalks of wheat at the center. The outer edge of the entire tabletop is ornamented with two bands of wood, one being very light. A brass gallery of tiny repeating balusters surrounds the top. There is a single drawer. The sides of the tabletop are decorated in marquetry. The repeating pattern is of a series of straight bow knots in lightwood from which hang fine swags decorated with double leaves and a four-leaved flower at the lowest point. The lower edge is veneered with a highly figured wood. The slender, tapering legs are inset with panels of Karelian birch and there is a cross-shaped stretcher with a small, circular center. The stretcher is apparently veneered in amaranth, although the presence of this Brazilian wood needs to be confirmed. There are small metal plates on the underside of each leg.

Object name:
KIDNEY-SHAPED WRITING TABLE
Made from:
Wood (Karelian birch -- walnut -- lime wood -- amaranth [?] -- and other unidentified woods) -- brass
Made in:
Russia
Date made:
late 18th Century
Size:
63.5 × 96.5 × 53.3 cm (25 × 38 × 21 in.)

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:
32.2
Class:
FURNITURE
Signature marks:
INSCRIPTIONS Davies [Underneath] LABEL Mrs. D / Moscow [Underneath]
Credit line:
Bequest of Marjorie Merriweather Post, 1973