A Louis XV carved Spanish brocatello console, circa 1760

With its sophisticated carving of unusual Greek key frieze and têtes de bélier supports, and an architectural structure, this rare console reflects the fascinating moment in French Decorative Arts when ancient historic forms emulating Antiquity became the latest fashion. Called "goût grec", this moment was an avant-garde and short-lived movement in the beginnings of the Neoclassical period, spearheaded by sophisticated Parisian tastemakers such as Ange-Laurent de La Live de Jully and the Comte de Caylus.

In opposition to the rococo style identified by curvilinear and asymmetrical designs, this revival of classical standards and motifs led to a concept of grandeur and simplicity. Architects, painters and sculptors adopted a spare and rectilinear style based on ancient architectural ornamentation and so employed basic embellishments such as the Greek key band such as the present lot. Variations of this motif were published in printed collections such as Recueil élémentaire d'architecture by Jean-François Neufforge (1757) where a plate titled Modeles à lusage des bordures, Commodes, Tables, Poëles, Balustres, &c. shows a number of complex variations of the motif, with two of them also incorporating paterae as in this lot.

The têtes de bélier motif is part of an antique vocabulary with Bacchic origins that was revived in these first years of neoclassicism, and it is possible that this table was conceived for a sophisticated interior with a dining function.

Spanish brocatello is the most famous of all Spain's decorative stones and it is found in Catalonia, near Tortosa, and is locally known also as jaspi de la cinta. Mined since Roman times, it was always difficult to source blocs of large dimensions. According to Sophie Mouquin (Versailles en ses marbres, 2018, p.43-46), brocatelle d’Espagne was interruptedly imported to France during the Ancien Régime and generally was expensive, due to the difficulty in sourcing it. Used mainly in works of small dimensions it was particularly fashionable during the Louis XVI period for table and commode tops amongst leading ébénistes like Adam Weisweiler.

Of soft but crisp carving, we can see Spanish brocatello being used in carved pieces, as in the case of the present lot - brocatelle fireplaces were delivered by Louis Trouard between 1743 and 1745 to several royal residences (one for the cabinet du roi in Fontainebleau, other for the Dauphine’s apartments in Versailles, one other to Choisy (Mouquin, op. cit., p.45-46).