Description
Trumeau with two bodies in lacquered and painted wood. Rome, 18th century.
A two-body trumeau entirely in lacquered and painted wood, of Roman manufacture, 18th century. The lower body features a straight front with three drawers and a fall-front writing surface, which opens to reveal a series of compartments and small drawers; the upper body is fitted with double-opening doors. The pictorial decoration, executed in tempera on a celadon-green ground with ochre-yellow frames and relief elements, develops an iconographic programme centred on the Allegory of the Arts: the fall-front depicts a reclining female allegorical figure — identifiable as Painting or Sculpture — flanked by putti bearing the instruments of the arts; the panels of the upper doors feature compositions with putti engaged in the figurative arts, animated by medallions with Latin inscriptions, floral and fruit garlands. The interior of the upper body is decorated in imitation of an ornamental wallpaper. The piece is completed by carved and gilded wood elements on the stiles and the shaped pediment.
Condition report: Good overall state of conservation, with wear and lacquer losses consistent with the age of the piece. The painted decorations present localised abrasions and traces of old restorations.
