IT stood for years near the toilets at an Italian restaurant in York, thought by diners to be an old table of little importance.
But now experts have discovered the console is a missing section of a 17th century masterpiece, believed to have been lost for ever.
And after the two pieces were reunited, they are set toilet rackto fetch up to a million pounds when they go under the hammer at Sotheby's next week.
The table, which stood in the foyer of Ask restaurant, situated in the 18th century Assembly Rooms in Blake Street, is thought to be part of the most important piece of Roman baroque furniture ever to come on the market.
Mario Tavella, head of furniture at Sotheby's, said today the table was identical to two examples preserved in the Royal Danish collections that Pope Clement IX was thought to have commissioned in 1669 as diplomatic gifts.
He revealed how he had been looking for the last 20 years for the carved gilt-wood console, which was the missing stand for a cabinet adorned with intricate miniature depictions of basilicas and monuments of Rome, that Sotheby's had kept in storage on behalf of a client for two decades.
