Art Nouveau and Art Deco French and Austrian Stands and Tables
Art Noveau and Art Deco French and Austrian Tables
TABLES AND STANDS About 1890-1920
Walnut and marquetry table by Galle.
Art nouveau: Centres in Paris, Vienna, Nancy, Munich, Brussels, St Petersburg, Milan, produce tables original in design but not entirely divorced from past or devoid of exotic influences. A gueridon by Galle, though impossible to confuse with anything earlier, has three legs like neo-classical monopodia, with dragonflies in place of lions or griffins; tables by Majorelle have cabriole legs mounted with orchids in ormolu, owing much to early rococo, while Bugatti’s coffee-tables are unashamedly Moorish/Turkish in flavour.
Many art nouveau table legs are carved to represent stylized stems of plants, the tops decorated with flowers in marquetry; others, purely abstract, have asymmetrical, curvilinear supports. A much more austere style, showing British Arts and Crafts influence, was adopted by Dijsselhof, one of whose dining-tables at Gemeente Museum, The Hague, has pierced end supports.
In 1903, Hoffmann and Moser, members of anti-academic Viennese Sezession, founded Wiener Werkstdtte to produce popular furniture. Hoffmann favoured angular tables inlaid with black and white squares in ebony and mother-of-pearl. Another black-and-white enthusiast, Munthe of Norway, designs triangular, three-legged tables with sun-ray brackets that, as early as 1895, anticipate Art Deco.
Wide range of fine timbers, indigenous and imported, used in solid and as veneers by French art nouveau makers. Austrians and Germans tend more to use of native timbers for solid construction, with exotic materials (e.g. ebony) for inlay.
Luxurious French work largely hand-made, with adjustment to traditional joints, e.g. mitres, for more eccentric shapes. Wiener Werksttte uses some machinery.
Carving, marquetry, inlay in solid wood. Ormolu and bronze mounts.
Mainly wax polishing. Cheaper grade of late art nouveau types French polished.
Top quality art nouveau and secessionist pieces now very expensive. Commercial products in medium price range.
FAKE MAJORELLE
Small tables with marquetry tops bearing Majorelle’s signature have been faked in recent years. Marquetry lacks quality, timber often inferior (Majorelle usually worked in fine mahogany).
Nest of tables by Galle, about 1900.
path of table linen yarn
white gold ring strst24
tennis white gold ring 18
beautiful diamond ring and refined
dangling silver ring bell 925
parure necklace earrings gold swarovski
105ct engagement ring of de
aquamarine diamond gold earrings salvini
Tags: Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Art Noveau, arts and crafts, Bugatti, Mahogany, marquetry, Rococo, table legs, TABLES, Walnut