Wall Console With Hunting Decoration – France, Louis XV Period, Circa 1745–1755

Wall console table with hunting decoration – France, Louis XV period, circa 1745–1755 This rare and interesting wall console table in carved oak, painted blue-grey, is a remarkable illustration of French furniture from the first half of the 18th century. The frame, entirely in oak, is carved with great finesse. The lively and openwork belt is carved with shells and flowers, the whole resting on two strongly curved console legs which wind down to the ground in a broad and dynamic movement. This rocaille decoration, both symmetrical and delicate, serves as a frame for the lower crosspiece which presents a naturalistic decoration in the round, enlivened by a hunting scene: a dog leaps towards two birds, caught in a stylized wooded landscape. This sculpted composition is in line with the works of Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755), famous animal painter and author of numerous views of royal hunts. We are thinking in particular of his painting "Blanche, chienne de la meute de Louis XV" (1727), preserved in the Louvre, which presents a similar spatial relationship between the dog and the game in a landscape that is both naturalistic and scenic. The realism of the animal treatment, combined with a controlled theatricality, also refers to François Desportes, another great name in hunting painting under Louis XIV and revived in the style of the day in the years 1730–1750. This is a sculptural transposition of a painted theme then very popular in royal residences (overdoors, trumeaux, paneling). The decorative program of the console is designed according to a logic of orchestrated symmetry, characteristic of the large Louis XV ensembles where rocaille fantasy is combined with formal regularity. It features openwork foliage, thwarted curves, narrow volutes, and well-marked folds, which frame the central scene like a living cartouche. The stylistic link with the drawings and compositions of Contant d'Ivry (1698–1776), architect-decorator to the nobility of the Ancien Régime, is perceptible in the architectural treatment of the masses, the barely disrupted symmetry, and the monumental spirit of the whole. The console is topped with its period marble, a Bleu de Savoie, recognizable by its white veins and grayish-blue nuances, which accentuate the finesse of the whole. This French marble, rare in current production, was prized in the refined decors of the 18th century. This console, by the richness of its vocabulary, the precision of the sculpture, and the rarity of its hunting subject, could come from a high-level Parisian workshop, linked to aristocratic circles. It can be compared to orders for hunting apartments or secondary pavilions of large residences. It constitutes a rare example of sculpted furniture animated by a true narrative program, in the spirit of the large decorative ensembles linked to the royal hunt under Louis XV. Dimensions: Length: 125 cm Depth: 61 cm Height: 84 cm