Antique French Directoire Buffet Sideboard Serving Table 19th C

This is an elegant antique French Directoire ormolu mounted flame mahogany marble topped buffet, dating from Circa 1840.

It features a striking serpentine galleried inset white Carrara marble top above a decorative panelled frieze. This is above two open undertiers supported by ormolu mounted fluted columns.

The cabinet is raised on reeded toupie feet that terminate in ormolu sabots.

Add a touch of elegance to a special room in your home with this superb antique serving table.

Condition:

In excellent condition having been beautifully cleaned polished and waxed in our workshops, please see photos for confirmation.

Dimensions in cm:

Height 87 x Width 100 x Depth 30.5

Dimensions in inches:

Height 2 foot, 10 inches x Width 3 foot, 3 inches x Depth 1 foot

Directoire

style was a period in the decorative arts, fashion, and especially furniture design in France concurrent with the Directory (November 2, 1795November 10, 1799), the later part of the French Revolution. The style uses Neoclassical architectural forms, minimal carving, planar expanses of highly grained veneers, and applied decorative painting. It is a style transitional between Louis XVI and Empire.

The Directoire style was primarily established by the architects and designers Charles Percier (17641838) and Pier Franois Lonard Fontaine (17621853). In its use of Neoclassical architectural form and decorative motifs the style anticipates the slightly later and more elaborate Empire style, which was introduced after Napoleon established the First French Empire.

It reflected the Revolutionary belief in the values of republican Rome.

Carrara marble - is a type of white or blue-grey marble popular for use in sculpture and building decor. It is quarried at the city of Carrara in the province of Massa-Carrara (Tuscany, Italy).

Carrara marble has been used since the time of Ancient Rome; the Pantheon and Trajan's Column in Rome are constructed of it. Many sculptures of the Renaissance, such as Michelangelo's David, were carved from Carrara marble. For Michelangelo at least, Carrara marble was valued above all other stone, except perhaps that of his own quarry in Pietrasanta. The Marble Arch in London and the Duomo di Siena are also made from this stone, as are the interiors of Manila Cathedral, the cold-white marbles of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque and the campus of Harvard Medical School.

Ormolu - Gilt Bronze (from French 'or moulu', signifying ground or pounded gold) is an 18th-century English term for applying finely ground, high-carat gold in a mercury amalgam to an object of bronze.The mercury is driven off in a kiln leaving behind a gold-coloured veneer known as 'gilt bronze'.

The manufacture of true ormolu employs a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding, in which a solution of nitrate of mercury is applied to a piece of copper, brass, or bronze, followed by the application of an amalgam of gold and mercury. The item was then exposed to extreme heat until the mercury burned off and the gold remained, adhered to the metal object.

After around 1830 because legislation had outlawed the use of mercury other techniques were used instead. Electroplating is the most common modern technique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt..

Our reference: A2845

Internal Ref:

A2845

Date of manufacture : 19th Century