Console table

Console table

Franz Adam Weber

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This is one of two console tables carved by Franz Anton Weber for the abundantly decorated Cabinet of Mirrors or Spiegelkabinett, the Rococo highlight of the palace of Adalbert II von Walderdorff (r.1757-59), Prince-Bishop of Fulda. The consoles’ pair is still preserved in situ. Such mirrored cabinets were a standard part of a stylish succession of staterooms that alluded to the absolute authority of the patron. In eighteenth-century Germany a Prince-Bishop ruled as the spiritual head of the regional Catholic Church and as an independent prince of the Holy Roman Empire. In the residence of Fulda the Cabinet of Mirrors occupied the most important space on the second floor next to the Prince-Bishop’s bedchamber. The central cartouche of the apron shows St.Simplitius, a patron saint of the local diocese. The extravagantly carved rocaille ornaments and the vividly characterized hippocampus on the crossed stretchers of the feet make this table exemplify the sculptural quality and inventiveness of the Rococo period in the Hesse region. Despite the superb craftsmanship of his artistic carvings, almost nothing is known about Franz Anton Weber, although he must have been very familiar with related works existing throughout the neighboring Franconia.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.