Rare "winged women" sconce console in carved,... Lot 19

Rare "winged women" sconce console in carved, molded and gilded oak. It features an extensive décor of foliage scrolls, fleurons, garlands of flowers and clasps. The front of the belt is adorned with a medallion depicting the Sun King. It rests on two cambered uprights, sculpted with winged women and joined by a brace adorned with a fire pot. Sarrancolin marble top with triple molding. Paris. Circa 1725 - 1730. H_84 cm W_157.5 cm D_63.5 cm Later fire pot. Reinforced marble. The sculptor who created our console was mainly inspired by the drawings of Pierre Le Pautre (1659-1744), but also by those of Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754). This dual influence is the result of the evolution of a model whose origins can be traced back to the late 17th century, and which has never ceased to be interpreted by 18th-century ornamentalists. At the end of the 17th century, Pierre Le Pautre published the "Livre de Tables qui sont dans les Appartements du Roy sur lesquelles sont posés les Bijoux du Cabinet des Médailles". These tables had apparently been designed by Jean 1er Bérain in 1681. In this collection, Le Pautre reproduces a table made for Louis XIV, also resting on a pedestal with a figure in terms, whose volute shape is more modern and similar to our console (fig.1, fig.2). A few decades later, the famous ornamentalist Nicolas Pineau, who could not have been unaware of Le Pautre's collection, produced two designs for winged term tables in the emerging Rocaille style (fig.3, fig.4). These two series of studies illustrate the dual influence that probably inspired the sculptor of our console table, combining elements from Le Pautre's publications (winged women in terms, medallions, vases) with those from Pineau's collections (more accentuated curves, garlands of flowers). Expert : Stéphane Pépe