AN EXTRAORDINARY BRONZE-MOUNTED GUERIDON SET WITH MEDALS BY BERTRAND ANDRIEU

June 15 2009, 3:25pm

French. Circa 1805. This highly unusual and beautifully crafted table is set with medals by the celebrated French medallist, engraver and illustrator Bertrand Andrieu (1761-1822). The medals, which are mounted to the centre of the concave panels of the base of the table are double sized examples of a medal issued in 1801 that served as a prize medal for the Exhibition of French Industrial Products held in Paris in 1801-2. The table on which the medals are mounted appears to be unique in its design, with an octagonal top above a four-sided concave panelled base, one side of which is a door opening to create a cabinet within the base. The bronze feet, which are modelled in the form of winged lion monopodia are also unusual in that the balls on which the the monopodia are raised are ingeniously designed, each intergrating a castor without disturbing the perfect sphere of the brass ball.