Lot 127: Design for an elaborate surtout-de-table

Jean-Guillaume Moitte (Paris 1746-1810)
Design for an elaborate surtout-de-table
black lead, pen and grey ink, grey and black wash, on two joined sheets
18½ x 37¾ in. (47 x 95.8 cm.)

Henri Auguste, until 1810.
J.B.C. Odiot, his studio stamp.

Doves, sacred to Venus, perch on the central tazza as well as on the palm-flowered rail comprised of Ceres' conjoined cornucopiae which derive from a marble antiquity; while the base's garlanded bucrania derive from the Roman Temple di Vesta at Tivoli, and the tripod altar plinths display Apollo's laurel-wreathed lyre.