A rare French peach coloured stone table, Burgundian 16th century

the rectangular top on baluster shaped trestle supports

Overall some wear and chips commensurate with age. Colour of plinth base slightly different as these would have sat on a floor. Overall very good conserved condition. Very rare stone table. Highly recommended. Collector's piece.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Comparative Literature:
C. Alberici, Il Mobile Veneto, Milano, 1980, p. 72, figs. 95 & 96.
W.Odom, A History of Italian Furniture from the Fourteenth to the early Nineteenth Centuries, Vol I , New York, 1966, p. 162, fig. 144.

This table is recorded as `la table de pierre' in the inventory of the contents of the kitchen at a property in Saint-Oyen, leased by Jean Jacquet and his wife Margueritte Baruet from Charles Curuot on 2nd July  1745. Saint-Oyen borders the Saône river and the property used function as the toll house where the boats that sailed along the river had to pay their taxes. The table was probably used by customs officers when boats passed from the Royaume de France, on the right bank of the Saône to the Empire of Charles Quint on the left bank of the Saône. The customs officers were charged with the collection of taxes on all imports and exports including the Mâconnais wines which for more than two centuries were considered the most celebrated wines in France. 

The table was opposite the massive chimneybreast which was hewn out of the same peach coloured stone and although it was in the kitchen it was not fixed to the floor which was often the case with these massive trestle tables. 

The book `Plans de Montbellet levés en 1757' , illustrated here, contains maps of the region and the property from where this table originates.

It is quite extraodinary that this table has survived throughout the centuries in the place where it must have been originally conceived as part of the original decoration in the 16th century being hewn from the same stone as the chimney-breast and that it has survived in one piece with hardly any damage or losses due to the fragility of the stone.  

This unusual massive table takes its inspiration from the marble tables with trestle supports often carved with winged lions which were prevalent in Ancient Rome, see for example the end of an Antique stone table illustrated by Odom, op. cit., p. 162, fig. 144, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, reproduced here in fig.1. This style was then revived in Renaissance Italy and inspired many Northern Renaissance and Baroque tables. It is worthwhile considering the Istrian marble centre table illustrated by Alberici, op. cit., p. 72, figs, 95 & 96, originating from Venice, circa 1550-1560, now in the Musée Jacquemart-André, reproduced here.