A VERY RARE BOTANICAL TABLE POSSIBLY BY KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL

June 15 2009, 3:08pm

Berlin. Circa 1830. The present botanical table is much in the manner of the work of the celebrated designer and architect Karl Friederich Schinkel (1781-1841). The formal restraint of the table, free from extraneous decoration and marked by the smooth elegance of its form and the quality of its detailing, is characteristic of Schinkel’s neo-classical furniture designs. The table is closely related to an engraving of an antique marble urn from Tivoli published in Vorbilder für Fabrikanten und Handwerker, for which Schinkel provided the plates from 1821. The Botanical table could be used to grow and display plants by means of removable trays which fit ingeniously into the curving sides of the table’s top or can be stored away in the base. Schinkel was profoundly engaged with relating his architecture to nature and the surrounding landscape, and the present table can be seen in the context of the garden rooms he incorporated into his buildings to achieve this conjunction.