UNKNOWN CABINETMAKER, French
(active 1690s in Paris)

Table with crossed stretchers

1690s
Carved and gilded wood, marble top
Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris

The tables, commodes, and precious metalwork produced by the great workshops under Louis XIV should really be viewed as sculpture. They took Le Brun's designs into account and formed a complete ensemble with the wall decorations. Large tables featured curving, interlocked stretchers - the braces between legs - so substantial and original as to lend them the status of sculpture.




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