Lot Essay
The design for this elaborately carved console table can be attributed to the influential architect and designer François Cuvilliés. Two comparable designs conceived by Cuvilliés in 1738 and engraved by C.A. Lespilliez in 1750-60 include such carved elements as the dragons winding around foliate-carved legs with putti and shepherds playing musical instruments (see H. Kreisel, Die Kunst des Deutschen Möbels, 1970, vol. I, fig. 431).
FRANÇOIS CUVILLIES
François Cuvilliés (1698-1768) had his formal education in France under the direction of Jean-François Blondel but worked most of his life abroad. Shortly before 1711 he was named a page to the Elector Max-Emanuel of Bavaria and in 1725 became chief architect of the Court of Bavaria, a post which he occupied until his death. He was well known for his interpretations of rocaille designs some of which he published in his Livre de Cartouches in 1738.
FRANÇOIS CUVILLIES
François Cuvilliés (1698-1768) had his formal education in France under the direction of Jean-François Blondel but worked most of his life abroad. Shortly before 1711 he was named a page to the Elector Max-Emanuel of Bavaria and in 1725 became chief architect of the Court of Bavaria, a post which he occupied until his death. He was well known for his interpretations of rocaille designs some of which he published in his Livre de Cartouches in 1738.