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Lot Essay
The inventory stamp on the back of this console, CR (Casa Reale) flanking a crown above the numbers 4758, is that of the Royal Palaces of Parma and was most likely applied circa 1855. A large part of the furnishings of these palaces is now in the Quirinale Palace, Rome and is discussed in A. González-Palacios, Il patrimonio del Quirinale: Gli Arredi Francesi, Milan, 1995. The majority of these items date from the mid-18th Century and were sent to the Palace of Colorno following the arrival of Madame Infante, the eldest daughter of Louis XV in 1749. She had married the Infante Don Philippe of Spain, Duke of Parma and third son of Philip V of Spain in 1739 and they became rulers of the Duchy of Parma in 1748 as a result of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
The date of this table precludes it having arrived in Parma as part of these shipments. It may have been commissioned for one of the Parma palaces or else acquired in the early part of the 19th Century. The lack of an extra 'C' for Colorno in the inventory stamp would indicate that it furnished either the ducal palace at Parma or one of the minor residences such as Sala rather than the summer palace at Colorno. Numerous other pieces with the Parma inventory numbers exist which were not sent to the Quirinale and these probably left the Italian Royal Collections in the 1860s. These include a chandelier and a pair of wall-lights by Caffiéri in the Wallace Collection which are discussed by Peter Hughes in The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, III, London, 1996, F83 and F84, pp. 1310-1320. These were said to have been purchased in Italy by Baron Davillier from un fonctionnaire du palais royal de Parme.
Two related consoles attributed to the cabinetmaker Bernard Molitor (1755-1833) are illustrated in U. Leben, Molitor, London, 1992, p. 193, figs. 85 and 85c. The confronting sphinx mounts centering the frieze appear on a satinwood secretaire à abattant and a commode en suite, both stamped by Molitor, illustrated U. Leben op. cit., pp. 88-89.
The date of this table precludes it having arrived in Parma as part of these shipments. It may have been commissioned for one of the Parma palaces or else acquired in the early part of the 19th Century. The lack of an extra 'C' for Colorno in the inventory stamp would indicate that it furnished either the ducal palace at Parma or one of the minor residences such as Sala rather than the summer palace at Colorno. Numerous other pieces with the Parma inventory numbers exist which were not sent to the Quirinale and these probably left the Italian Royal Collections in the 1860s. These include a chandelier and a pair of wall-lights by Caffiéri in the Wallace Collection which are discussed by Peter Hughes in The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, III, London, 1996, F83 and F84, pp. 1310-1320. These were said to have been purchased in Italy by Baron Davillier from un fonctionnaire du palais royal de Parme.
Two related consoles attributed to the cabinetmaker Bernard Molitor (1755-1833) are illustrated in U. Leben, Molitor, London, 1992, p. 193, figs. 85 and 85c. The confronting sphinx mounts centering the frieze appear on a satinwood secretaire à abattant and a commode en suite, both stamped by Molitor, illustrated U. Leben op. cit., pp. 88-89.