Japonisme Mixed-Metal Étagère Table, Manner of Gabriel Viardot

#18240: Japonisme Mixed-Metal Étagère Table, Manner of Gabriel Viardot
Style of Viardot, Gabriel (French, 1830–1906)
French, late 19th century
Height 81cm, width 86cm, depth 55cm

This étagère table is constructed in wood with figured veneers and is decorated in the Japonisme manner with mixed-metal work — copper, brass and pewter-toned alloys — used both as flush inlay and as applied relief mounts, together with gilt metal mounts at the corners and handles. It stands on four pierced and shaped supports carved with stylised buds and sinuous scrolling outlines, each pair rising from moulded shoe feet and continuing above the lower tier to carry the upper.
The upper tier is bordered by a raised gallery moulding to the long sides, its corners applied with gilt metal mounts cast with flowering branches within scrolled surrounds. The surface carries a folding fan and a circular uchiwa fan, the round fan set with daisies, a butterfly and a bird among foliage, and the folding fan with flowering sprays and a tasselled cord. Around them, branches of pomegranate spread across the ground in flowing lines, one fruit modelled in high relief and split to reveal its seeds, with a swallow in flight, a dragonfly and scattered blossom.
The lower tier repeats the motif of a round fan and an angled panel, worked with lotus flowers, buds and pads, iris and supple grasses, with two birds perched among the stems and dragonflies above. The four corners carry gilt metal mounts matching those above, and the sides are fitted with pierced foliate gilt metal carrying handles.
Gabriel Viardot (French, 1830–1906) worked in Paris from the 1860s, and by the 1880s his workshop was known for furniture in the Japanese and Chinese taste, combining carved frames with inlaid and applied metalwork. He showed at the international exhibitions of the period, and the type was widely imitated by other Parisian makers. The present table follows his models without bearing his stamp.
$11,250