Magnificent Table
Rome or Florence (?), ca 1600 (top), Munich, ca 1620/1630 (stand)
Oak with walnut, ebony and snakewood, alabaster
88,0 x 109,0 x 158,0 cm
Inv.-Nr. R 2718
Transferred from the Royal Collections before 1868
Gallery 31
This table consists of what is probably an ancient Roman alabaster top and a stand commissioned by the Munich court. Called alabastro fiorito because of its unusual veining forming an almost floral pattern, this type of stone was highly prized. Just as his predecessor had done, Prince Elector Maximilian I had a predilection for rare rocks and minerals which were framed and kept in the Munich Kunstkammer. Stone surfaces worked in the scagliola technique paneled the walls and portals in the Imperial Rooms of the Residenz, which were furnished during his regency between 1606 and 1618 and which would later be known as the Stone Rooms. Maximilian I commissioned several valuable tables to be made in a similar manner with tops set on stands with bases for his Kammergalerie in the Residenz. This table was meant not only for use in a Kunstkammer since the stand has drawers for storing valuable objects but also, with its ancient top, as an exhibit in its own right. The design of the column-like legs with their unusual wavy fluted moulding, which was extremely difficult to make, matches the rarity of the top.
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
des Bayerischen Nationalmuseum
