1960's Louis XVI Style Mirrored Top Console DIstressed Silver and Gold Accents

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This exceptionally decorative Louis XVI-style console table presents an elegant combination of architectural symmetry, pierced carving, classical ornament, and richly … Read more This exceptionally decorative Louis XVI-style console table presents an elegant combination of architectural symmetry, pierced carving, classical ornament, and richly contrasting silvered and gilt decoration. Its long, narrow proportions and highly finished façade are characteristic of a console intended to stand prominently against a wall, while its elaborate construction draws directly upon the French neoclassical vocabulary associated with the reign of Louis XVI. Pierced foliate friezes, straight classical supports, rosette blocks, and elaborate stretchers are all documented features of Louis XVI and later Louis XVI Revival console tables.

The rectangular top is particularly striking, being fitted with a distressed or antiqued mirror plate rather than the marble more traditionally encountered on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century examples. The dark, smoky appearance of the mirrored glass gives the surface considerable depth and creates a dramatic counterpoint to the luminous frame beneath. Its intentionally aged character, with a softly mottled and time-worn reflective quality, suggests the appearance of an old mercury mirror. The mirror is enclosed within a raised molded perimeter, creating a shallow tray-like profile and emphasizing the table's long, elegant silhouette. Mirrored elements are entirely compatible with later interpretations of the Louis XVI vocabulary; documented Louis XVI-style furniture includes carved giltwood tables incorporating mirror glass.

Beneath the top runs an extraordinarily elaborate reticulated, or pierced, carved frieze. Rather than forming a solid apron, the carving has been worked through to create an openwork composition, allowing light and shadow to articulate the ornament. Bold scrolling acanthus leaves and foliate tendrils unfold symmetrically across the front, their curling tips and deeply modeled surfaces enriched with gold against the predominantly silvered framework. At the center, the scrollwork converges upon a small classical floral or oval cartouche-like motif, establishing the strict bilateral symmetry so important to the Louis XVI aesthetic. The open areas between the carved foliage lend the substantial table an unexpectedly light, almost lace-like appearance.

Square corner blocks frame the frieze and are ornamented with prominent radiating floral rosettes, again picked out in warm gilding. Below these blocks descend four slender architectural supports. Each leg incorporates a turned upper collar enriched with carved leaf ornament before continuing into a long, narrow shaft decorated with spiraling flutes or twisted channels. The silvered ground is accented by gilded details within the carving, producing an attractive alternation between cool silver and warmer antique-gold tones.

The lower structure is nearly as elaborate as the frieze. Gracefully curved stretchers connect the legs and sweep inward toward a prominent central platform. From this rises a beautifully modeled classical urn or covered vase finial, composed of graduated circular moldings, a gadrooned body, and a small turned terminal. Delicate carved foliate garlands extend outward from the urn toward the adjoining stretcher, visually tying the centerpiece into the overall framework. Urns, flower baskets, and similarly classical centerpieces frequently ornament the stretchers of Louis XVI-style consoles.

The finish is especially important to the table's character. Its silvered surfaces have a deliberately aged, softly rubbed appearance, revealing warmer reddish and ochre undertones in places, while selective gilding emphasizes the acanthus leaves, rosettes, moldings, collars, and other carved details. This layered, distressed surface prevents the table from appearing overly bright and instead gives it the mellow character of an older European decorative object.

Overall, the table is a particularly theatrical interpretation of the Louis XVI Revival style, combining neoclassical symmetry with unusually exuberant carving. The reticulated foliate apron, spiral-carved supports, rosette blocks, sweeping stretcher, central classical urn, contrasting parcel-gilt and silvered finish, and antiqued mirrored top create a piece that is simultaneously formal and highly decorative. Its reflective surface and open carving would make it especially effective as a console, serving table, or dramatic focal point beneath a large mirror or painting.


Dimensions: 31.75 inches high x 64.25 inches wide x 19 inches deep See less