Console table

Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo|Michelangelo Pergolesi

ca. 1782–92 · Carved, painted and gilded poplar wood; marble top · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

With its pierced legs and finely carved details, this table represents Neoclassical Piedmontese furniture at the highest level of quality. It shows the combined influences of French and Italian furniture often present in furniture of this region, which in the eighteenth century was the Kingdom of Savoy, an independent state that was artistically as French as it was Italian. It has been attributed to Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo (1745–1820), one of the leading cabinetmakers in Turin at this period, who worked chiefly on royal commissions. However, recent research has unveiled a number of contemporary furniture makers whose style was very similar. The composition is closely related to the designs of Michelangelo Pergolesi (d. 1801), the prolific Italian master of Neoclassical ornament. The vignette of Leda and the Swan in the frieze is directly derived from his designs.

Artist

Giuseppe Maria Bonzanigo|Michelangelo Pergolesi

Date

ca. 1782–92

Medium

Carved, painted and gilded poplar wood; marble top

Culture

Italian, Turin

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Rogers Fund, by exchange, 1970