Console of Queen Maria Carolina's Workroom

The wall table dates back to 1779, when Carlo Vanvitelli (son of the Architect) commissioned to various craftsmen to complete the decorations of the Royal Apartments of the Palace of Caserta, and in 1781, when the gilder Antonio Pittarelli was working in Queen’s Cabinet and Gennaro Di Fiore asked to be paid for the furnishing of two “Cabinets”. This work was made on behalf of King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon and his wife Queen Mary Carolina.

The original design of this furniture, whose structure testify the mature phase of the Neapolitan rococo, shows Carlo Vanvitelli’s style, who directed the palace yards after the death of his father, Luigi Vanvitelli. The architect and the craftsmens created a particular shape for a console table in which the slender, curved legs of Louis XV style, sometimes harmoniously opposed, join the fascia below the tabletop with continuity. Also typical of Carlo Vanvitelli’s style is the creation of demilune furniture, also having a white and gold background, a style that quickly spread not only in the Kingdom of the two Sicilies, but also abroad, and in some cases as, for example, in Ligurian furniture, the white background was replaced with blue color.

If, often, the design of many precious furniture was due to the the talent of Carlo Vanvitelli, it is surely thanks to the immense talent of Fiore family that such projects became reality, and some furnitures was also directly designed by Gennaro di Fiore.