Stage table. Argentina. XIX century.

Carved, openwork and polished wood. Measures. Length: 61 cm / 24 in. Depth: 42 cm / 16.53 in. Height: 45 cm / 17.71 in.

With two drawers with small bronze handles, it has a balanced carving work on the bands on its four sides. The top with wavy edges and molded profile. Harmoniously curved legs, here called the crowfoot type, although Pérez-Valiente de Moctezuma explains it well, it was an improper name, since “in reality, the termination is flattened in singular and undulating lines that recall the shapes of the heads of viper or serpent”. The same author explains it, in the furniture of the Río de la Plata, “the legs of the furniture constitute the most curious and original element, in relation to the other styles”. (1)

These delicate mouse tables were part of the domestic furniture on the podiums and reception cabinets -family areas for female and male use, respectively-, to support the incense burner and the mate service. Guillermo Furlong highlighted in his texts the luxury that was exhibited even in country houses: “First-class people or families were undoubtedly the least abundant, but they were not few, both in Buenos Aires and in the cities of the interior. " And while he acknowledges that the houses on the outside were simple and modest, he indicates that inside they were even luxurious. Works of art, religious carvings, large Flemish tapestries, important silver tableware and rich furniture are reflected in the endowment and testamentary writings, some of them reaching our days as faithful witnesses of that splendorous past.

Note:

1. Antonio Pérez-Valiente de Moctezuma: Colonial furniture. Buenos Aires, 1931, p. 98.