A very fine carved giltwood console table Louis XVI, third quarter 18th century

in the goût turc, with a demi-lune grey veined marble top, above a frieze with a band  of stylised pierced piastre, on female term supports suspending floral garlands terminating in acanthus carved scrolled supports joined by a stretcher centred by a flaming urn flanked by ribbon-tied oak leaves; regilt

Collection of Eugene Kraemer, sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 28th-29th April, 1913, lot 168-reproduced here in fig.1.
Sold Sotheby's, New York, 22nd May 1997, lot 255

 

Seymour de Ricci, Le Style Louis XVI, Paris, 1913, reproduced , p. 74.
A. Keim, Die Kunststile des Louis XVI, 1929

 

The gilding is less orange and much more golden and marble slightly lighter in colour and more attractive than in the catalogue illustration. Very attractive detail to carving. The left hand floral swag beneath the frieze is also carved on the back unlike the others. Old very minor marks, chips and scratches commensurate with age. The marble top has been restored and is slightly dirty and would benefit from a light clean according to taste. Beautiful design and execution. In overall very good restored condition. Highly recommended.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Comparative Literature:
Theodore Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, Part 2,  Vermont, 1992, pp. 134-142.
Brigitte Langer and Hans Ottomeyer, Die französischen Möbel des 18. Jahrhunderts, Munich, 1995, ,
Bill G.B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Vol. II, Dijon, 1993, p. 138-139 (inv. OA. 5165).

This unusual console table with its female term supports and delicately carved floral swags, is reminiscent of the designs for console tables by  François-Joseph Duret . It is also very much in the manner of the pair of giltwood consoles executed by the Rousseau brothers for the cabinet du conseil at Fontainebleau in 1774. See p. 67, no. 1, for one of  the pair (F576 C).

Furthermore, there is a console table in the Louvre, originally owned by Charles-Claude Flahaut de La Billarderie, Comte d'Angiviller (1730-1809), who had succeeded the Marquis de Marigny et Terray as Directeur général des Batiments du roi (1774). It has supports in the form of sirens conceived in a similar vein to those on this table-reproduced here in fig. 2. According to Pallot, op. cit., the sirens' faces ....points to the intervention of a very talented but unfortunately anonymous sculpteur en bâtiment'. It may be no coincidence that the sirens may have had some connection with a `Turkish' setting, see for example, the celebrated console table made by Georges Jacob, circa 1781 for the Cabinet of the Comte d'Artois at Versailles,( Pallot op. cit., p. 136).
It is also worthwhile considering the pair of small console tables supported by Nubians in the Frick, see Dell, op. cit., p. 135, which, he states were almost certainly designed to serve as integral parts of a room decorated in the Turkish style. These interiors were very much in vogue in the late 1770's and 1780's and were intended as small rooms where the owner could entertain friends in intimate surroundings.
The most well known of these and the only surviving room is the boudoir turc for Marie-Antoinette at Fontainebleau, designed in 1777 by the architect Nicholas-Marie Potain and decorated with relief arabesques by the Rousseau brothers. It has been suggested that Marie-Antoinette in this regard took the lead from her brother the Comte d'Artois's boudoir turc (see above).

It is also worthwhile considering two tables in the Munich Residenz, illustrated by Langer et. al., op. cit., p. 252, no. 70, after a design by François-Joseph Duret (1729-1816), (inv. Res. Mü. M 134 and M135), reproduced her in fig. 3. The idea was that these two tables were placed up against a mirror to give the visual appearance of a round table due to the reflection. The treatment of the figures and the garlands is very similar to those on the offered table.