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The use of neoclassical elements in the design of furniture such as this is often described as "Adamesque" or "Adam-esque," which refers to the work of Scottish eighteenth-century architects and designers Robert Adam (1728-1792) and his brothers John (1721-1792) and James (1732-1794), with whom he practiced. The brothers augmented their educational travel on the Continent in the 1750s with studies of antiquity. By 1760, Robert Adam had become one of the most fashionable and successful architects in the England. He rejected the Palladian style as "ponderous" and introduced a lighter stylistic interpretation of the past in architecture and furnishings. The style is characterized by use of many motifs adapted from original Classical material, but updated and reorganized; thus the term neoclassical.
ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]
Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.
DepartmentHistoric House
Demi-lune Console Table
Date1915-1918
Mediumwood, marquetry and paint
DimensionsOverall: 31 1/8 × 41 7/8 × 20 5/8 in. (79.1 × 106.4 × 52.4 cm)
Credit LineReynolda Estate
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number1922.2.149
DescriptionThe painted Adamesque (neoclassical) demi-lune table with reeded legs and skirt has a marquetry top. Wide and narrow ornamental bands of inlay on the tabletop exhibit a fan-like organization beginning with a half-flower motif at the center back, surrounded by a wide band of three-lobed forms separated by bellflowers, and near the outer edge a narrower band of anthemion alternating with lilies on a darker ground. The skirt and legs are painted black with gold highlights. The four reeded legs are ornamented top and bottom with anthemion clusters and bellflowers; and they are marked in the reeded skirt by four large leafy patera. A narrow beaded band defines the bottom of the skirt.The use of neoclassical elements in the design of furniture such as this is often described as "Adamesque" or "Adam-esque," which refers to the work of Scottish eighteenth-century architects and designers Robert Adam (1728-1792) and his brothers John (1721-1792) and James (1732-1794), with whom he practiced. The brothers augmented their educational travel on the Continent in the 1750s with studies of antiquity. By 1760, Robert Adam had become one of the most fashionable and successful architects in the England. He rejected the Palladian style as "ponderous" and introduced a lighter stylistic interpretation of the past in architecture and furnishings. The style is characterized by use of many motifs adapted from original Classical material, but updated and reorganized; thus the term neoclassical.
ProvenanceFrom 1964
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, acquired in 1964. [1]
Notes:
[1] In the early 1960s Charles H. Babcock (1899-1967) gave the house and its contents to the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. The house was then incorporated as a museum and collection (Reynolda House, Inc.) on December 18, 1964 with the signing of the charter at its first board meeting. The museum first opened to the public in September 1965.
Status
Not on view