Rococo is a style of art and interior design developed by the French in the 18th century. Rococo-style rooms favored form over function, featuring ornate furniture, elegant tapestries, ornamental mirrors and other lavish trappings. Sold at a Christie’s auction in Philadelphia, the most expensive table in the world is just one example of rococo furniture.
The Tufft pier table, named after its creator, Thomas Tufft, was hand-carved in the late 1700s for general store owner Richard Edwards of Lumberton, New Jersey. The antique table features pierced fretwork and long legs ending in narrow ankles and detailed ball-and-claw feet. It was sold by Edwards’ descendent, a Philadelphia architect by the name of Samuel Harrison Gardiner.
The most impressive thing about the world’s most expensive table isn’t its auction sale of $4.6 million, which overshot presale estimate by over $3 million, but the fact that it has retained its position for nearly two decades. The Tufft pier table was sold on January 20th, 1990. Now that’s an enduring work of art!
Replicas of the Tufft table, like the one pictured above, can be purchased from Richard Rothstein Classic Interiors.
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I LOVE this table….. I own it…. well, not the original $4.6 million table, but an incredibly beautiful hand carved reproduction that I got from Richard Rothstein & Co. out of Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is a real gem of a table….
Yes this table is expensive, but not the most expensive. Have you ever heared of a russian furniture maker that has patented a technological process allowing wood to be inlaid with raw russian amber? He also makes furniture from 2000 year old bog oak inlaid with amber and just from aber. Check it aout at the link below. what do you think? Take care. Evgeny Statnov
http://emelyanov-amber.com/emelyanov_en/gallery/index.php?SECTION_ID=22&ELEMENT_ID=144