A pair of Italian lacquered guéridons à trespolo, Piedmontese 18th style

each with a shaped squared top painted with chinoiserie scenes and hung with tassels, supported by a Chinaman with a moustache, on three scroll legs, the whole painted with floral motifs; restorations

As in every other European court, the imported taste for chinoiserie and the exotic was welcomed in Piedmont and craftsmen came up with inventive designs. These evocations of Chinese art were rendered with changes to fit the European stylistic ideals of the time and each region adapted it’s own interpretation. The present pair of trespoli are a typical example of the Piedmontese fascination for chinoiserie. Elisabetta Barbolini Ferrari in Mobili Dipinti, Tempera, Lacca ed Arte Povera nelle Botteghe tra XVII e XVIII Secolo, Modena, 2004, p.116, illustrates a pair of Piedmontese columns sculpted with very closely related Chinamen.