Italian Gueridon Table with Gilt Wood Base and Faux Marble Top

A 19th century Italian gueridon table, with painted faux marble…
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A 19th century Italian gueridon table, with painted faux marble top and a gilt wood base with figural female supports and with acanthus carving to the base of the legs. The legs supported by a platform stretcher centered by a urn carved in high relief. These tables originated in France in middle of the 17th century. The supports for the early gueridon were often modelled on African, ancient Egyptian, Greek human figures. While originally a humble table for the purpose of holding a candlestick or vase, they could also be a high style decorative piece of court furniture. At Versailles there were several hundred of them and within a generation they had taken an infinity of forms ,columns, tripods, termini and mythological figures. This was a 19th century copy of one of the gueridon in Versailles, 114 cm deepia

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  • Gueridon - The French term originally the name for a small stand for a candelabrum, but now used to describe any small circular topped table or pedestal, often with an intermediate shelf and on three legs..
  • Faux - A French word meaning "false", but when used in decorative arts, the intention is not to deceive, but to simulate the decorative effects of the more expensive material it is imitating. The term " faux bois" meaning "false wood" refers to a furniture item that has been decorated with a marked grain (woodgrain finish)  to imitate a more expensive timber.
  • Acanthus - A stylized leaf motif, one of the primary decorative elements of classical Greek and Roman architecture, derived from the genus of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Mediterranean area. It is a common element in classical Greek and Roman design, and is often seen in Corinthian and Composite order columns and used as a decorative element in English, European and Australian furniture, particularly on the curve of a leg, and as decoration for a corbel.
  • Giltwood - Giltwood is used to describe a gold finish on furniture and other decorative wooden items, whereby a thin sheet of gold metal, called gold leaf, is applied to the surface for decorative purposes.

    Unlike gilding, where the gold leaf is applied over a coating of gesso, with giltwood the gold leaf is applied direct to the surface, or over a coat of linseed oil gold leaf adhesive.

    Most gold-finished mirrors will be gilded, whereas furniture with gold highlights will have the gold applied through the giltwood method.
  • Column - An architectural feature sometimes used for decorative effect and sometimes as part of the supporting construction. Columns should generally taper slightly towards the top. They may be plain or decorated with carving, fluting or reeding. Columns may be fully rounded or, more commonly, half-rounded and attached with glue, screws or pins to the outer stiles of doors, or the facing uprights on cabinets and bureaux.
  • Stretcher - A horizontal rail which connects the legs of stools, chairs, tables and stands, to provide stabilisation of the legs. A stretcher table is any table with a stretcher base. The term is usually applied to substantial farmhouse tables, although many cabinetmaker's pieces, such as sofa tables, also have turned stretchers.

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