- Guéridon
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Guéridon
- Place of origin:
Paris, France (possibly, made)
London, England (possibly, made) - Date:
1860-80 (made)
- Materials and Techniques:
Solid mahogany and mahogany veneered on oak, with inset plaque of porcelain or bone china and gilt-bronze mounts
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by John Jones
- Museum number:
1036-1882
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 122g, case 5
Object Type
This stand was made to support a reading light or as an occasional table. Such pieces are sometimes known by the French name guéridon, a term originally used in the 17th century for a circular tray on a pillar, made of carved and gilded wood, used to support a candelabrum. The form was adapted in the 18th century as a small veneered table, but this example was probably made in the19th century, in London, as an imitation of late18th-century models.
Materials & Making
The top is inset with a soft-paste porcelain plaque, perhaps made originally as a plate at the French national porcelain factory at Sèvres, near Paris. It was probably later ground down to form this table top. The decoration was almost certainly applied in the 19th century, probably by expert flower painters in Britain who sought to imitate the fine work of the painters at Sèvres.
People
This stand belonged to John Jones, a military tailor who made considerable profits from supplying military uniforms to the army and navy between 1827 and 1881, especially during the Crimean War (1853-1856). Jones was a keen and discerning collector of 18th-century French furniture. He may have bought this stand believing it to be a late 18th-century antique or purchased it new in London. On his death in 1882 the South Kensington Museum (later the V&A) received Jones's furniture, books and art works, which became the Museum's founding collection of French fine and decorative arts.
