This superb console, carved throughout with images of the hunt, the angles in the form of hawks joined by swags formed from nets, was probably originally conceived for a hunting lodge or a country chteau. The vigorous depiction of the boar hunt on the stretcher is derived from Jean-Baptiste Oudry's celebrated picture The Boar Hunt, which, with its companion The Stag Hunt formed part of a series of paintings by Oudry on hunting themes, painted 1722-5 and engraved soon after (see M.L. Dimier, Les Peintres Franais du XVIIIe Sicle, Paris, 1930, fig. 27). A closely related console is in the Detroit Institute of Arts, while a pair of magnificent consoles with hunting scenes also inspired by Oudry was sold Christie's New York, 23 October 1998, lot 86 ($570,000).