.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
« Il n’y a rien qui marque davantage la magnificence des grands Princes que leurs superbes Palais et meubles précieux dont ils sont ornés » Louis XIV.
This magnificent giltwood console table is a rare survival of Royal furnishings from the reign of the sun King and was almost certainly designed by Pierre Lepautre to adorn the Galerie des Glaces of the château de Versailles, conceived circa 1680 and replacing the long terrace between the Salon de la Paix and de la Guerre.
The table is listed among the tables delivered in 1683 which were commissioned to decorate the King’s apartments, including the Galerie des Glaces and adjoining rooms. The Royal accounts (see A.N., Maison du Roi, O1 2984) indeed lists at least thirty-three tables commissioned under the direction of Jules Hardouin-Mansart following the construction of the Hall of Mirrors, listing payments to the menuisiers Fressenet and Mathelin, the sculptors Barbe and Charmeton, the gilder Dupré and bronzier Cucci, who supplied the ormolu borders supporting precious porphyry and marble tops.
A fascinating design of the present console table is known and was engraved by the architect and ornemaniste Pierre Le Pautre (1652-1716) in his Livre de tables qui sont dans les appartements du Roy sur lesquels sont posés les bijoux du Cabinet des médailles (published circa 1700). This ornamental book gathered his models for a series of giltwood consoles supplied to the King for the display of his magnificent collection of silver and porphyry as well as gold-mounted objects. The present console can be identified as one of the models, presenting two options on the same design: a left side for a Ducal commission (indicated by the ducal crown above the coat-of-arms), and a right side for the King himself personified by the mask of Apollo. The design illustrates the present console in almost every detail, such as the cornucopia flanking the Apollo mask, the tapered and console-shaped legs centred with a mascaron, and the fleur-de-lys to the extremities of the frieze. The notable differences between the design and the present example are the moulded top which was supported by an ormolu border cast with leaf-tips supplied by Domenico Cucci, now lacking, and a hardstone vase placed on the centre of the stretcher, now replaced by a carved giltwood foliate finial probably later added in the 18th century as a substitute.
The table remained in the Royal collection until the King’s death as it is precisely described, with the same measurements, in his inventory drafted between 1716 and 1721 (A.N. O1 3343, fol.47):
353. Une table de porphyre, dans une bordure de cuivre doré, longue de six pieds quatre pouces, sur trois pieds de large et trente deux pouces de haut, sur son pied de bois sculpté à huit piliers en gaine, dont le soubassement de devant est orné d’un soleil, entre deux cornes d’abondances.
(A table top of porphyry, within a gilt-bronze border, six foot and four inches [app. 206 cm.] long, and three foot (97.5 cm.) large and thirty two inches (86.4 cm.) high, on a giltwood base with eight tapered legs, with the front apron decorated with a sun, between two cornucopia)
Although this table and the others were described in his posthumous inventory, most of the magnificent furnishings of Louis XIV do not appear in the subsequent inventories of the Garde-Meuble. It is known that some of the consoles adorning the Galerie (initially paid under the Silver account of the Maison du Roi) were given to members of the Royal family or as diplomatic gifts to Ambassadors. Interestingly, the present console bears the brand of the château de Sceaux indicating it belonged to Louis-Jean-Marie de Bourbon, duc de Penthièvre (1725-1793), Louis XIV’s illegitimate grandson. The latter was the son of Louis-Auguste de Bourbon, duc du Maine (1670-1736) who likely inherited the console from his father the King. This inheritance was made possible thanks to Madame de Maintenon who, in July 1714, pressed Louis XIV to raise Louis-Auguste and his younger brother, the comte de Toulouse, to the rank of princes du sang, and compelled the Parlement of Paris to acquiesce to them being placed in the line of succession to the French throne, following all of the legitimate lines of the House of Bourbon.