The Age Of Rococo - England - Part 7

Those who wished to remain in the van of fashion paid enormous sums for console tables surmounted by superb marble slabs imported from Italy. Less expensive versions carried slabs of Scagliola, a hard-setting paste flecked with chips of coloured marble, or tops of mosaic and gesso.
When not used for purely decorative purposes, consoles served as sideboards on which food and utensils could be marshalled for the dinner table - otherwise the sideboard - as the cupboard and drawer type of handmade furniture in which form it became known later in the century - was non-existent.

With their main construction of plain walnut, giltwood, or wood embellished by gesso, these tables were ideally suited to the popular adaptations of the Italian style. They embodied the full repertoire of motifs that were to be found on chairs - animal and human heads, sphinxes, putti and family coats of arms.

Many bracket designs required attractively carved side aprons to mask the unsightly supporting struts that were necessary to carry the immense weight of the marble tops. In some forms of console table however, these side aprons were not even needed; an example was the spectacular use of an eagle's body as a bracket - in which case the outstretched wings sloped backwards - both for support and in strut concealment. Eagle consoles are rare and fabulously expensive today. Towards the mid century, the trend for refinement of line and decoration affected console tables as much as chairs and their ornamental character gradually became less and less extravagant.

Before examining development in other types of tables, we must turn to the mirrors which were so much a part of the console table concept of unified design. From around 1725, the design of mirrors was directly inspired by there architectural setting. Mouldings frequently corresponded with those on pier tables, doors, cornices and around windows.
The high cost of glass meant that frames were often replaced time and time again, even through several decades of evolving styles and fashions, while the original glass was treasured from generation to generation.
During the 1720 - 1740 period, frames followed the highly decorative path taken by non fitted furniture, thereafter moving into the lighter Rococo direction.

New effects were being created by the larger expanses of wood available in mahogany. The gate-leg table was made generally with circular or oval top of fairly large surface area, as is common today with reproduction furniture, one cabriole leg swinging out either side to support the flaps. Stretchers had long since vanished. Other gate-leg tables were made with square flaps so that several could be placed together when a large company was dining. Such a composite affair might have as many as thirty two legs: the result was a magnificent, long expanse of mahogany of rich patina, a perfect setting for an important banquet.