Classical Altar-ation of a Center Table

November 18 2010, 12:51pm

GUERIDON SET WITH MEDALS BY BERTRAND ANDRIEU. French, Circa 1805. Carlton Hobbs LLC.

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 center of the concave panels of its base, 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 medal was later published in 1836 in Tresor de Numismatique: medailles de la Revolution francaise.1 They depict portrait busts of Minerva (Athena, in the Greek Pantheon), the virgin Roman goddess of war, civilization, crafts, poetry and wisdom. Her portrait in these medals is very similar to her portrayal on ancient coins, particularly those minted in wealthy cities like Syracuse, Sicily (figure 1). Figure 1: An ancient coin depicts the head of Athena. Syracuse, Sicily; 317-289 BC.

In mythology, Minerva is the daughter of Jupiter (Zeus) and was born by springing forth from his head, fully armed.2 In these medals she is portrayed wearing a helmet that is decorated with a winged lion and enwreathed with laurel. A similar helmet is illustrated in Percier and Fontaine’s Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, 1802 in an allegory of Sculpture (Pl. 5) (figure 2). Figure 2: A similar helmet illustrated in Percier and Fontaine’s "Recueil de Décorations Intérieures," 1802.

The present table appears to derive its inspiration from an ancient Roman altar. The octagonal top, with a pierced bronze gallery centered by a star on each of the eight sides, rests above a four-sided concave paneled base, one side of which is a door that opens to a cabinet within the base. The bronze feet are modeled in the form of winged lion monopodiae and are unusual in that the balls on which the monopodiae are raised are ingeniously designed, each integrating a castor without disturbing the perfect sphere of the brass ball. A marble altar that may have inspired this table, although more ornately decorated, is illustrated by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcophagi…, 1778 (figure 3). It is interesting to note that the altar, too, has concave sides, and is supported by winged leonine beasts at the canted corners, which are headed by zoomorphic masks. Figure 2: An ancient marble altar illustrated by Giovanni Battista Piranesi in "Vasi, candelabri, cippi, sarcophagi…," 1778.

The table is identifiably French in its construction. The lowest plateau of the base is beautifully built in a manner resembling parquet floor panels, while a similar technique is used to support the original octagonal marble top. The distinctive geometry of the gilt-brass gallery is strongly reminiscent of a balustrade illustrated in Percier and Fontaine’s Recueil de Decorations Interieures in a design for a room executed for the Château de Malmaison (Pl. 66). Detail of the medal. Andrieu was trained in Bordeaux and travelled to Paris in 1786 where he entered the workshop of Nicolas-Marie Gatteaux. He pioneered the technique employed on the present medals of single sided lead impressions colored to resemble bronze, and first used it on his celebrated medal representing the Fall of the Bastille in 1789. In 1790 he produced a medal depicting the Arrival of Louis XVI in Paris, however it is around 1800, after the turmoil of the revolutionary period, that Andrieu’s career began to flower. During the Napoleonic era he received numerous commissions from Vivant Denon, such as those for medals commemorating the Battle of Austerlitz, the Battle of Jena, the Marriage of Jérôme Bonaparte and the Marriage of Napoleon and Maria Louisa.3 This table is one of approximately forty pieces to be included in the upcoming exhibition, “Inspired by Antiquity: Classical Influences on 18th and 19th Century Furniture and Works of Art“ to be held at the Carlton Hobbs gallery from January 20th – February 14th. Footnote: 1. Tresor de Numismatique: medailles del la Revolution francaise, Paris, 1836, pl LXXXVI, no.4. 2. Hall, James. Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art. London: J. Murray, 1974. Print. 209. 3. Macmillan Dictionary of Art.