Extraordinary Pair Of Italian 18th Century Carved Gilt-Wood Console Tables

A very fine and important pair of Italian carved gilt-wood console tables, Roman, circa 1770Each with a rectangular back, yellow and white marble top, above a frieze centered by a roundel, one with a recumbent male figure the other with a female figure in drapery, amongst birds and scrolling foliage, with an acanthus leaf clasp at each corner, on leaf-carved stop-fluted legs joined by an X-form stretcher centered by a wicker basket of fruit and flowers;Provenance from a historic Roman PalaceMeasures: 92cm high, 180cm wide, 86cm deep; 3ft. Nin., 5ft. 11in., 2ft. 10in. The frieze decoration and carving is reminiscent of a pair of console tables in the Quirinale, Rome (see Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios, I Mobili Italiani, Milan, 1996, pp.184-185, no.59). Also typical of Roman furniture are the bulbous knees on the feet and the carved wood wicker basket on the stretcher (see Goffredo Lizzani, Il Mobile Romano, Milan, 1970, p. XXXIV, no. LXX).