Art Institute of Chicago

Table Centerpiece

Italy, Turin

Date

c. 1750

Medium

Silver, silver gilt, mirror glass, and wood

Culture

Turin

Department

Applied Arts of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This silver and glass plateau is a rare survival of the festive table decorations that were so popular in the 18th century. It formed the visual climax of a formal dinner’s final course; dessert. Designed in the Rococo style, the centerpiece has a border of asymmetrical scrolls, waves, and flower clusters, further enlivened by alternating reflective and matte surfaces. Decorative arrangements of sugar-paste or porcelain figures were placed on the mirrored surfaces of the plateau to entertain dinner guests, and it would have been surrounded by candles that would have shed light on the elaborate arrangement. This plateau was made in Turin, Italy, but the practice of decorating aristocratic tables with miniature gardens, and even scenes from contemporary plays and operas, extended throughout Europe. The centerpiece is composed of three sections, so users had the option of shortening it for more intimate gatherings by removing the center section. Affixed to the sides are two symmetrically shaped cartouches, or ornamental panels, each surmounted by a crown and supported by a pair of lions. Since no coats of arms appear to have been engraved within the cartouches, it isn’t possible to determine for whom the centerpiece was originally made.

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