Extra-Large Round Abstract Verre Églomisé and Walnut Coffee Table, Late 1960s

Description

An impressively sized and uncommon late 1960s four-foot-diameter round walnut coffee table with striking abstract metal leaf and hand-painted verre … more An impressively sized and uncommon late 1960s four-foot-diameter round walnut coffee table with striking abstract metal leaf and hand-painted verre églomisé top.

Expansive glass top features an absolutely dynamic design on its underside comprised of hand-applied gold, silver, and copper leaf with hand-painted and tinted areas.

Its mesmerizing appearance is simultaneously terrestrial and extraterrestrial, with an abstract aesthetic best described as Brutalist. Complex textures and earth tones including black, brown, olive green, gold, amber, and rust call to mind satellite images of a forbidding natural locale, while on a smaller scale the fissured and fractured cross-section of a mineral-rich rock or marble slab is revealed.

Assuming a celestial vantage point, one can see a far-flung, as-yet undiscovered planet—reinforced by the round form and forbidding topography—or the chaotic formations of an interstellar cloud that’s floating in the vast blackness of space.

It’s difficult to capture in photos the entrancing impression of depth, gleaming gold and silver accents, and overall shimmering metallic effect that one experiences while moving around it for a closer look, or viewing it in different lighting conditions. The top is truly a work of art, with its frame being the very substantial solid walnut five-legged base.

This is a very uncommon piece for which we’ve been unable to ascertain a designer and manufacturer. The design and execution of the walnut base are very similar to pieces by Baker Furniture Company, which also produced tables with verre églomisé tops, though not with such an abstract pattern. John Keal designed walnut pieces for Brown-Saltman with somewhat similar tops, though they were side tables of a much smaller scale. less