A Pair of Louis XV Carved and Giltwood Console Tables, Circa 1755

Landon K. Thorne, New York

Christie's New York, 23 October 1998, lot 86 ($570,00)

Partridge Fine Arts, London

This exceptional pair of consoles is a rare survival of a pair based on the theme of the hunt, with animalier depictions of a group of hounds attacking a stag on one table and a wild boar on the other, beneath trophies of quivers of arrows in the central apron and flanked at the corners by a delightful and perhaps unique representation in French 18th-century furniture of a hooded falcon. These tables would almost certainly have been specifically commissioned for a pavillon de chasse or château attached to a large hunting domain, and would likely have been placed in an interior accompanied by trophies and tapestries or paintings based on the theme of the hunt by artists such as Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Jean-François de Troy, whose works on the subject often concentrated on the l'hallali , the exact moment when the pack of hounds have caught up with its prey, as seen on the stretchers here.

The console table as a form appeared during the reign of Louis XIV, constructed of carved wood either gilded, painted or stained and often with a marble top, and they served as a display surface for bronzes, vases and other works of art, frequently placed between windows. Technically they belonged to the realm of the menuisiers (joiners), who were primarily responsible for creating seat furniture and were a separate guild from the ébénistes (cabinetmakers) who manufactured case pieces. To a much greater extent than seat furniture in the eighteenth century, however, console tables developed into vehicles to showcase the spectacular technical and design virtuosity of the woodcarver. In his influential L'Art de la Menuiserie (1769-1775), the cabinetmaker André Jacob Roubo described consoles as 'pieds de tables très riches [...] presque entièrement du ressort du sculpteur', and this is exemplified by the dense, masterful carving of the floral garlands, oak leaves and shellwork of the present pair of tables. Stylistically this pair likely dates from the advanced rococo period of the 1750s, sometimes described as the 'rococo symétrisé', when the more agitated and sinuous aspects of table design developed a more weighty, voluminous character. The boldly carved C-scrolls forming the structure of the frieze and legs are reminiscent of work designed by the architect Pierre Contant d'Ivry (1698-1777), such as a console supplied to the Danish ambassador the Baron de Bernstorff in Copenhagen (illustrated in G.B. Pallot, L’art du siège au XVIIIe siècle en France, Paris 1987, p. 166).

Relatively few consoles integrating hunting motifs are recorded, and surviving examples include a single giltwood table depicting hounds attacking a stag now in the Detroit Institute of Arts (49.339), and another with a boar sold Christie's London, 16 December 1999, lot 65. Pairs of hunting consoles have also appeared infrequently on the market and include an oak pair carved with the Hallali of a boar and a wolf sold Christie's Paris, 30 June 2022 (EUR 126,000), and a small giltwood pair depicting a stag and boar at Christie's New York, 21 October 1997, lot 189 ($211.500).