A PAIR OF GERMAN NEOCLASSICAL GILTWOOD AND WHITE-PAINTED CONSOLE TABLES, POSSIBLY AFTER A DESIGN BY LEO VON KLENZE probably Munich, circa 1835

This pair of console tables with their prominent anthemions demonstrate the influence of the French Empire style on international design and architects and are comparable to designs by Leo von Klenze (1784-1864) executed for the dining room of the Königsbau in Münich in 1834-35. Von Klenze was the court architect of King Ludwig I von Bayern, for whom he built the Königsbau. Von Klenze also was the interior designer for the royal apartments of this Neocassical building. By the early nineteenth century Greek as well as Roman references were being employed by designers, moving further away from antique themes to create a bold Napoleonic Empire style that had a profound effect on European taste in the 1820s and 30s. The impetus for Empire classicism was largely the Recueil de decorations interieures by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine published in installments from 1801 to 1811, influential on architect and designer Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1781-1841) and Leo von Klenze who had worked as an apprentice to Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine in Paris. Both Schinkel and Klenze  veered more toward the Grecian, in part a reaction to the French more Roman inspired classicism.