A Renaissance Revival Sideboard

c. 1876

A Renaissance Revival sideboard (Italian, c. 1876) of carved Circassian walnut by Luigi Frullini (Italian, 1839-1897) and tile roundel insert decorated by Eugène Gluck (French, 1820-1898) for Théodore Deck Manufacture, Paris. Specifically made for the Dining Room of Chateau-sur-Mer by Frullini, the installation of this sideboard was part of Richard Morris Hunt’s 1870s redesign of the house. The lower portion of the sideboard has four cabinet doors carved with bas-relief allegorical heads representing the Four Seasons, these flank a central stationary panel carved with hanging clusters of dead bird game, fish, and fruit. Above this are five drawers with carved with central ramshead pulls, grapevines, and six haut relief, projecting, signing heads based on the Cantoria for the Duomo in Florence. This lower section supports an inset gray marble serving slab. Above this is a neo-classical style relief frieze of putti at play, gathering grapes, and drinking wine, this is flanked by pendant game birds and incised anthemia decoration, the sideboard is carved with the signature “LUIGI FRULLINI FIRENZE” beneath the frieze. The long upper gallery shelf rises to a reticulated crest of curling tendrils, birds with spread wings, and fantastical griffins flanking a central majolica roundel. The roundel is painted with the scene of a hunter in Renaissance costume spearing a wild boar which has been cornered by hunting dogs, this seems to be a continuation of the hunting scene depicted on the tiles of the fireplace surround also in the room (PSNC.11552). The roundel is signed “E. GLUCK / 1874” on the lower left and is framed with carved fruits and vegetables with seashells below. The composition of the roundel hunting scene is based after the engraving “Actaeon Killed by his Dogs” (“Actaeon a propriÿs canibus discerpitur”) by Antonio Tempesta (Italian, 1555-1630).

Italian (carving)

French (tile)

Circassian Walnut

glazed earthenware

121" x 138" x 32"

Purchased by The Preservation Society of Newport County, 1969.

PSNC.11539

PSNC.11552