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Console Table
Probably designed by: Josef Effner (German, 1687–1745)
Carving attributed to: Johann Adam Pichler (German, about 1716–1761)
Carving attributed to: Johann Adam Pichler (German, about 1716–1761)
German (Munich)
about 1730
Object Place: Munich, Germany
Medium/Technique
Gilded pine and limewood; marble top
Dimensions
Overall: 85.7 x 150.5 x 64.4 cm (33 3/4 x 59 1/4 x 25 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Helen and Alice Colburn Fund
Accession Number57.658
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsFurniture – Tables, stands, screens
This table belongs to a set of four reputedly made for Karl Albrecht (1697-1745), elector of Bavaria and later Holy Roman Emperor. The tables were intended for the Kaisersaal (imperial hall) at the Ettal monastery, in Bavaria. A portrait of the elector's wife, Maria Amalia, is carved on the central roundel. Attributed to the Munich court architect Josef Effner, the table's design reveals a familiarity with the innovations of French rococo furniture, especially in the exuberant scrollwork and palm fronds, and the exotic masks on the legs.
DescriptionRichly carved and gilded, shaped marble top. Masks on knees of cabriole legs with paw feet, medallion with profile head on skirt, scrolls and garlands. Stretcher has full round seated cupids supporting Imperial coat-of-arms on breast of eagle.
ProvenanceAbout 1730, made for Karl Albrecht, Elector of Bavaria (r. 1726-1745), possibly for the Kaisersaal at Kloster Ettal [see note 1]; 1899, purchased from the Kloster Ettal by Baron Theodor von Cramer-Klett (b. 1874 - d. 1938), Hohenauschau, Chimsee [see note 2]; by descent to his son or daughter; sold by the Cramer-Klett family to Fischer-Böhler, Munich; 1957, sold by Fischer-Böhler to the MFA for $4,000. (Accession Date: October 9, 1957)
NOTES:
[1] This is one in a set of four console tables made for Karl Albrecht. Another table from the set is at the MFA (accession no. 1987.211); the two others are at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and the Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt. [2] Information provided by Fischer-Böhler at the time of its acquisition; see also Regina and Hermann Jedding, "Der Konsoltisch im Werk Joseph Effners," p. 247, n. 3. In 1899, Baron Theodor von Cramer-Klett purchased the Kloster Ettal, which had been closed since 1803. The money raised by his acquisition allowed the abbey to reopen. It is not clear when the set of four tables was dispersed. The example at the Museum für Kunsthandwerk was on the Frankfurt art market in 1900.
NOTES:
[1] This is one in a set of four console tables made for Karl Albrecht. Another table from the set is at the MFA (accession no. 1987.211); the two others are at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, and the Museum für Kunsthandwerk, Frankfurt. [2] Information provided by Fischer-Böhler at the time of its acquisition; see also Regina and Hermann Jedding, "Der Konsoltisch im Werk Joseph Effners," p. 247, n. 3. In 1899, Baron Theodor von Cramer-Klett purchased the Kloster Ettal, which had been closed since 1803. The money raised by his acquisition allowed the abbey to reopen. It is not clear when the set of four tables was dispersed. The example at the Museum für Kunsthandwerk was on the Frankfurt art market in 1900.