I was making my way among the tables of beautiful high-grade colored glassware when I decided to check out the equally high-grade furniture at the auction house. This was one of its Modern Design sales, so all I could do was ooh and ahh.
I was walking down the second row of furniture when I came upon a small table that looked very familiar. The top was one round curve with a hole at one end and thick paint bordering the top outer edge.
The table looked like an artist’s palette. And it willed me to come hither.
I had written a blog post two weeks ago about buying an artist’s easel and palette at auction. I’m not an artist but I do buy artwork, and those two tools made me feel just as close to the artist as the artwork I have on my walls. Both were like works of art themselves, much like this palette table I was admiring.
The table was not a large one: It stood only 14 inches tall, and the top was only about 23 inches wide. It was so small that the auction house had sat it on top of another table (itself a naturally carved piece of wood) so that it wouldn’t get lost among the other furniture. The legs and bottom were shiny black. It was in very good condition.
This is how it was described on the auction sheet:
Artisan Table Formed from Walnut Artist Palette Top and Tapered Black Legs. Heavy paint to top.
The paint was pretty thick, obviously intentionally, but the maker did leave enough of the wood exposed so you could actually place something on the top.
The table wasn’t signed and there was no maker’s name inscribed on it. So I wondered who had made it and if it had been done by a manufacturer or an artist. The bottom section looked as if it had been done commercially. Here’s another palette table I found on Flickr, and here’s another simply designed one without any paint.
I didn’t hang around for the table to come up for auction, because I was sure it would cost more than I was willing to pay. I checked later and found out that it sold for $160.
It would’ve looked lovely grouped with my easel and palette. Or would that have been a little too much?
