The work is distinguished from other known Turinese tables of this kind by an unusual departure from symmetry in the solid carving of leaves, flowers and curved elements on the apron. Attention should be drawn to the masks at each corner, the large floral element in the middle of the crossed branches beneath the table and, among the details of the carving, the whimsical flourish of the cordon descending from the knee of each leg. 

The measurements of the tray normally coincide with the maximum width between the supports but are disproportionately small in this case. Another anomaly is the use of religious figures on the tray, with the coronation of the Virgin in the middle, rather than the more customary landscape, romantic or oriental scenes. The top is therefore not original. 

Tray tables of this type are among the most attractive works of Turinese Rococo, which uses carving and “humble” means, such as colouring, gilding and cut-out appliqué prints (produced on a large scale in the 18th century by firms like Remondini in the Veneto region), to obtain very fine results. For this reason, Vittorio Viale chose to include a large number in the Mostra del Barocco Piemontese exhibition of 1963.¹ An example of very high quality is provided by the table formerly in the collection of Giuseppe Rossi² with its large and splendid images on the tray. Attention should also be drawn to the three published by the present author in 2010,³ one in the Museo Accorsi-Ometto with red heraldic labels and gilded legs,⁴ and one, formerly part of the furniture of Palazzo Valperga di Masino in Turin but now in a private collection, that already displays the restrained elegance of the Neoclassical.⁵ Most of the surviving fragile items of this kind from the homes of the Turinese nobility display a graceful decorative charm not far removed from that of Venetian occasional tables and guéridons (as exemplified in the Cerruti Collection by a handsome pair in natural wood with a large shell motif, see no. 3, p. 1006). 

Roberto Antonetto 

¹ Viale 1963, vol. III, pls. 84-89. 

² Sotheby’s, London, The Italian Furniture from the Estate of the late Giuseppe Rossi, 10 March 1999, vol. I, lot 1, pp. 16-17; then in Christie’s, New York, Important European Furniture, Works of Art, Ceramics, Tapestries and Carpets, 18 May 2006, lot 809. 

³ Antonetto 2010, vol. II, p. 235 no. 18, p. 236 no. 19, p. 238 no. 21. 

⁴ Id. 1985, pp. 178-179. 

⁵ Most recently published in Venaria Reale 2018, pp. 241-242, no. 29.