Pair of French columns, ca. 1820-1830.

Pair of French columns, ca. 1820-1830.
Stuccoed wood.
They show flaws and flaws.
Measurements: 111 × 44 × 44 cm.

These columns are a refined example of the French decorative repertoire of the first decades of the nineteenth century, at a time of transition between neoclassical severity and ornamental accents that prelude romanticism. The cylindrical shaft, of sober and elegant outline, rests on an equally cylindrical plinth, but of greater diameter, which confers visual stability and architectural enhancement to the whole. Above the base, there is a delicate frieze in bas-relief with leaf motifs, carved with a rhythmic and ornamental sense. This same vegetal resource is repeated in the capital, where the strip of leaves appears framed between two moldings, thus composing an austere, almost abstract variant of the Corinthian capital, but refined to its ornamental essence.

The resulting effect combines the geometric purity of the volume with the textural richness of the vegetal decoration, offering an eloquent testimony to French taste at the time of the Restoration and the beginning of the reign of Louis Philippe.