This rare and elegant French revolving bookcase from the Napoleon III period stands out both for the originality of the design and for the richness of the decorations and inlays. The circular top is surrounded by particularly refined inlays, on a black ebonized background, between two bands of thuja briar, with a concave "plate" in the center with a painted bucolic scene; everything is embellished with a finely chiseled bronze band, which adds relief and elegance to the composition. The piece of furniture rests on a central column in ebonized wood, around which several shelves are arranged in a star shape, forming a particularly ingenious revolving bookcase. These shelves rotate around the central column, allowing easy access to the books placed all around. Each compartment of the lowest revolving shelf is decorated with delicate floral inlays, while the compartments of the highest shelf are decorated with an inlay composition with a helmet on a book among leaves and berries; all the inlays are on an ebonized background and surrounded by maple fillets and a thuja briar band. Valuable gilded bronze applications depicting winged griffins structure the entire composition. These bronze applications are not merely decorative: they also act as supports to hold books in place, acting both as bookends and architectural elements. The tripod base, also richly decorated, ends with gilded bronze claws, accentuating the sculptural and prestigious character of the piece. Thanks to the sophistication of its revolving mechanism, the richness of its inlays and the quality of its bronze mountings, this revolving bookcase is a particularly rare and spectacular piece of furniture from the Napoleonic Ill period, serving both as a library table and as a splendid multi-purpose decorative object. The general state of conservation, given the age, is very good, the structure is healthy and perfectly functional. There are no missing bronzes, the inlay is intact and entirely original, with the exception of one of the four compositions on the highest revolving surface, as can be seen from the numerous photos. The recessed plate, with the painting in good condition, has a groove along its entire length which however is not bothersome.
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SILVER Seller in Cuneo, Italy
