144
M A L L E T T LO N D O N
•
N E W YO R K
AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY STEEL GARDEN TABLE An unusual large scale polished iron centre table, the top richly decorated with pierced borders, on the outer edge are facing ‘S’ scrolls followed by a ring of circles and ‘C’ scrolls. At the centre there is a fluted patera with open radiating lines beyond. The whole stands on a fluted column terminating in an animal leg tripod enriched with acanthus leaf and anthemion. In the manner of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, (1781-1841) Germany, circa 1820 Height: 71cm/28in Diameter: 110cm/43½in F3B0433
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a pioneer craftsman of Berlin cast-iron furniture during the first half of the 19th century. Having travelled extensively through England and Scotland as a young man, he was initially inspired by the craft of vast iron roof structures being built at the time. Following the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Berlin saw a lively upturn in building activity and this was when Schinkel’s designs for cast-iron furniture were to be realised. Some of his first commissions were to build garden benches in the grounds of royal residences, including Schloss Glienicke in Berlin and Schloss Charlottenburg in Potsdam. As his work developed he increasingly referred back to the Empire style using simplified motif such as cloven feet, garlands and palmettes. A majority of his designs were for seat furniture, however, he also created a garden table cast entirely in iron and referenced in Georg Himmelheber’s book Cast-Iron Furniture, plate 209. This table can be closely compared with the larger scale Mallett table; both feature subtle variations on the curved lion’s feet at the base growing out of leaf scrolls, as well as the grooved shaft which climbs out of a calyx of leaves. The tops of each are also comparable with decorative bands arranged in a ring formation interspersed with geometric design. LITERATURE
Georg Himmelheber, Cast-Iron Furniture and All Other Forms of Iron Furniture, London, 1996, plate 209.
A cast-iron table of similar design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.