Description
French Louis XVI Revival ormolu (fire gilt, mercury-gilt bronze) and Sèvres style porcelain guéridon, made in France c.1890–1910 and retailed by Spaulding & Co., Chicago. Designed as a showpiece rather than a usable table, it reflects Belle Époque taste for the splendour of Versailles and the French court
The circular top is a finely painted Sèvres-style porcelain portrait of King Louis XVI in coronation robes, within a rich gilt border and protected by glass. The underside bears spurious interlaced ‘L’ marks, the hallmark of high‑grade 19th‑century Sèvres‑style work.
A gilt bronze gallery with lambrequin ornament, ram’s head mounts, and three incurved legs with hoof feet support a stretcher centered by a smaller en grisaille porcelain plaque stamped “B & CIE / DÉPOSÉ / CREIL ET MONTEREAU,” linking the piece to that important French factory. Exceptionally crisp fire gilt mounts repeatedly stamped “JG,” indicate a specialist maître bronzier and high end Parisian workshop production.
This guéridon is designed to stand as a showpiece. It provides a presentation of a Sèvres-style portrait of Louis XVI above and a Creil et Montereau grisaille classical scene below, both mounted in an elaborate, connoisseur-level gilt-bronze armature retailed by Spaulding & Co. As an object, it functions exclusively as an ornamental and collectible work of art rather than as a table. The porcelain and glass top is strictly decorative and should not be used as a side table or have any items placed on it.
H=33.5 in. W=21 in. D=21 in. 40 lbs.
