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Lot Essay
This superb console was traditionally thought to have stood in the château de Lunéville. The current château was built for Léopold (1679-1729), duc de Lorraine et de Bar, between 1703 and 1720 to plans by three architects amongst whom, most famously, Germain Boffrand (1667-1754). The plans to which it was built were undoubtedly inspired by those of the château de Versailles, where Boffrand is recorded to have worked, namely on the orangerie. The many similiarities between the two châteaux can be further explained by the fact that Boffrand worked with Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646-1708), premier architecte to Louis XIV and Surintendant des bâtiments du roi. Listed as a monument historique since 1901, the château de Lunéville is now commonly referred to as the 'Versailles lorrain.
As Mr. Jacques Charles-Gaffiot admirably reveals in his publication 'Lunéville, Fastes du Versailles lorrain', the present console can be related to several designs by or attributed to Boffrand. What is perhaps the most tenuous link between the architect and the console here offered is a design or projet circa 1724 and attributed to Boffrand or his atelier, for the Grand Salon of Würzburg, residence of the Elector Prince of Bavaria, côté des croisées (ill. Jacques Charles-Gaffiot, ibid, p.101). The design depicts two closely related console tables, each elaborately-carved, resting on four scrolled legs joined by shaped stretchers, and featuring what appears to be a serpentine-fronted marble top, all features which can be found on the present console table.
Stanislas Leszczynski, deposed king of Poland and new Duke of Lorraine, lived there in 1737 until his accidental death in 1766.
The interior decor of his many projects in Lorraine share strong parallels with their Parisian equivalents, notably at the Hôtel de Soubise (1735).
As Mr. Jacques Charles-Gaffiot admirably reveals in his publication 'Lunéville, Fastes du Versailles lorrain', the present console can be related to several designs by or attributed to Boffrand. What is perhaps the most tenuous link between the architect and the console here offered is a design or projet circa 1724 and attributed to Boffrand or his atelier, for the Grand Salon of Würzburg, residence of the Elector Prince of Bavaria, côté des croisées (ill. Jacques Charles-Gaffiot, ibid, p.101). The design depicts two closely related console tables, each elaborately-carved, resting on four scrolled legs joined by shaped stretchers, and featuring what appears to be a serpentine-fronted marble top, all features which can be found on the present console table.
Stanislas Leszczynski, deposed king of Poland and new Duke of Lorraine, lived there in 1737 until his accidental death in 1766.
The interior decor of his many projects in Lorraine share strong parallels with their Parisian equivalents, notably at the Hôtel de Soubise (1735).