CONSOLE Louis XV period Paris, circa 1730 Carved... Lot 70

CONSOLE Louis XV period Paris, circa 1730 Carved natural oak; Sea Green marble H. 85.5 cm, W. 164 cm, D. 66.5 cm This console is a brilliant testimony to the ability of the best woodcarvers of the first half of the 18th century to transcribe in their material the models provided in the form of drawings or engravings by the great ornamentalists of the Rocaille style. In the course of this transcribing, however, they retained a great deal of freedom of interpretation. The most extraordinary is revealed by the dexterity of the openwork sculpture of the base, combining an extremely rich rocaille repertoire. Leafy scrolls, large palmettes, interlacing, nets of pearls or fleurons, rosettes, openwork and flowery trellises are all intertwined in a remarkably balanced design. If asymmetry triumphs in the detail, it is symmetry that prevails in the overall composition. Alfred de Champeaux published in his Portefeuille des Arts décoratifs devoted to carved wooden furniture (Paris, fifth year, 1892-1893, pl.651), the drawing of a console model attributed to Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (goldsmith and draughtsman, 195 - 1750), which corresponds perfectly, with the exception of a few interpretative variants by the sculptor, to our piece of furniture (fig.1). Moreover, Nicolas Pinneau, (woodcarver and designer, 1684 - 1754), published at Mariette in Paris many engraved collections of his drawings, among which a "suite de consoles rocailles, 1720", presenting a very similar model (fig.2).