AFTER THE MODEL ATTRIBUTED TO JULES DEGOULLONS AND HIS ATELIER, CIRCA 1870

The present console is a close, if larger, copy of an original model for the Château de Bercy, almost certainly designed and carved circa 1713 by the sculptor Jules Degoullons, and now in the collections of the Louvre (see Bill G. B. Pallot, Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 1993, vol. 2, no. 7, pp. 40-41). Together with his atelier of André and Mathieu Legoupil, Marin Bellan and Pierre Taupin, Degoullons was responsible for much of the carved panelling and related furniture supplied to Charles-Henri II de Malon de Bercy, and according to an inventory drawn up on the latter's death in 1742, the console was located in the grand cabinet under a pier glass between two windows. This is further confirmed by illustrated records of the panelling and decoration of the main salons at Bercy made by the architect Froelicher prior to the demolition of the Château in 1861 (published by Deshairs, 1911). At the auction of the contents of the Château in July 1860, the console was purchased by Napoleon III and entered the national collections. It is therefore likely that this copy was made shortly thereafter.