Weisweiler, Thomire: Exceptional Pedestal Table After The Fontainebleau Model

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Rare for sale, this table is especially rare because it is of a remarkable quality and achievement.
It is identical to the famous model made by Adam Weisweiler and Pierre Philippe Thomire, preserved in the palace of Fontainebleau.

Studies and appraisals of the chassis and bonzes show that the proposed model dates from the early 19th century, under the Restoration, probably between 1820 and 1830, under Charles X.
(From the second half of the XIXth century large houses continued to produce this table: the Maison Millet around 1860, then Linke from the end of the XIXth century.) 

A gilt bronze mould with palmettes and stylized acanthus leaves underlined by a band encircles the main tray made of antique green marble with a diameter of 92 cm. 
It has a very finely carved bronze quadripod base decorated with winged sirens. These support the uprights with wide ribbed volutes resting on claw feet.
The solid base, in veneer of magnifying glass, is underlined by a gilt bronze frame with frieze of palmettes. 
In the center, on a stylised platform with godronnée frieze, an ovoid vase in antique green marble rests on a pedestal with octagonal cut sides. 

It should be noted that the identical reference copy, is attributed by Jean-Pierre Samoyault, former curator of the national museum of the castle of Fontainebleau, to Adam Weisweiler and Pierre Philippe Thomire at the end of the eighteenth century. 
This magnificent piece was delivered by Rocheux for the castle of Fontainebleau. This merchant had certainly bought it as a result of the revolutionary sales. The piece of furniture appears in a memorandum dated 23 August 1810: “an iff root wood pedestal or Amboine magnifying glass, a quarter-round ornamental leaf and palmette pedestal supported by four bronzed caryatids, part of the matte gilding and resting on a tray decorated with matte gold bronzes and a vase in the middle. Size 3 feet in diameter by 2 feet 6 in. high price 1900” (AN, O2 518, backrest 3, part 30).
It is still preserved in Fontainebleau and illustrated in:
J-P. Samoyault, Fontainebleau, Musée national du château, Catalogue des collections de mobilier 3, Meubles entrées sous le Premier Empire, RMN, Paris, 2004, p.248

The winged mermaids that enter the composition of its gilt bronze decoration draw their inspiration freely from certain projects of Parisian ornemanists of the last quarter of the eighteenth century, particularly from a drawing by Jean-François Forty representing an arm of light composed of a fish-tailed putto illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Band I, p.288, fig.4.16.2 and a project of applique by Jean-Demosthene Dugourc with winged mermaid figure reproduced in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, op.cit. , pp. 289, fig. 4.16.6. 

Pierre-Philippe Thomire used this decorative element, identical or with variations, in some of his creations. 
Similar fantastic marine animals appear on a series of tripod-shaped candelabras attributed to Thomire and studied by Gervase Jackson-Stops in the exhibition catalogue The Treasure Houses of Britain, Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1985-1986, record 491; several pairs are known including two preserved in the Mobilier national (bought in Thomire by the imperial furniture in 1812), one preserved in the Museum of the Malmaison and one last appearing in the dining room of the queen at the castle of Ludwigsburg.Identical figures also adorn a pair of large tripod Athenians, now transformed into a perfume burner, sold at Christie’s, London, on June 12, 2003, lot 1044; as well as a pair of patinated and gilded bronze appliques sold at Sotheby’s, New York, May 16, 1987, lot 55. 
Finally, slightly different figures of winged mermaids decorate, on the one hand, the famous candelabra of «American Independence», originally intended to be placed on a chest of drawers of Riesener in the interior cabinet of Louis XVI at Versailles, today preserved in the Louvre Museum (illustrated in P. Verlet, Les bronzes dorés français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1999, p.46, fig.40), compared by the author of Thomire’s work; and a pair of vases in white and bronze marble, patinated and gilded, directly inspired by a watercolour attributed to Thomire’s workshop and kept at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris (reproduced in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, op.cit., p.298, fig.4.18.6).

Very good condition of conservation, original gilding  

As usual, my objects are photographed naturally, without going through a photo studio.Therefore, you can appreciate them as they really are.

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