Console Table

CultureFrench

Dateca. 1750

MediumOak with gold leaf and a Brèche d'Alpe marble top

DimensionsOverall: 34 × 64 1/4 × 27 5/8 inches (86.36 × 163.2 × 70.17 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number55-107 A,B

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts

Terms

DescriptionFour diagonal, scrolled stretcher members intersecting in cartouche, above, C-scroll below. Legs consisting of short reverse C-curve, top, longer C-curve, center, very short reverse C-curve to foot; carved shell on each shoulder. Elaborate pierced apron with scrolls, leaves, etc. Breche d'alpe marble top.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

This richly gilded console table is a lively example of the fluidity and the exuberance of the Rococo style of the mid-18th century. Curvilinear "C-scrolled" legs are joined together by the wildly asymmetrical stretcher composed of animated swirls and entwined foliage. Supported by shells in each corner and an elaborately pierced apron, the scalloped top is carved from Brèche d'Alpe marble, composed of vibrantly hued fragments against a golden background. The popular marble was sought after by the French royalty for furniture and fireplace surrounds.

Provenance

With Alexander Ball, New York, by August 13, 1948;

Purchased from Ball by French and Company, New York, stock no. 47421, August 13, 1948-October 31, 1955 [1];

Purchased from French and Company by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1955.

NOTES:

[1] Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, French and Company Stock Sheets, box 79, folder 1.

Published References

“Special Events,” The Magazine Antiques 69, no. 2, (February 1956): 166 (repro.).

Société Française De Promotion Artistique, “La Console,” Connaissance Des Arts 151 no. 18 (September 1964): 66-75, 73 (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 227 (repro.).

Newsletter, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, (November 2002): n.p. (repro.).

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