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Lot Essay
This banquette together with the pair of tabourets in the following lot are executed in the fashionable gout chinois, which was so popular in Germany and France in the early 18th century. The distinct nature of the ruffled carving, particularly of the stretchers, could point to a German origin. The serpent dragons entwining the legs and emerging to violently hiss at chinoiserie masks on the banquettes and at each other on the tabourets, derive from table patterns designed by Nicolas Pineau in his Nouveaux Desseins de Pieds de Tables et de Vases et Consoles de Sculpture en bois, published by P.J. Mariette in 1734. They are also closely related to a design for a console table executed by Jean-Bernard-Honoré Tureau, called Toro (1661-1735), illustrated in Livre de Tables de Diverses Formes published in Paris by C.N. Le Pas-Du Buisson in 1716. The distinct dragons' heads are similar to those which appear on a console table in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (see Chefs d'oeuvre de Musée de Arts Décoratifs, 1985, p.49).
This banquette and the pair of stools in this sale (lot 254) probably originally formed part of a larger suite. A pair of banquettes of the same model was catalogued as German, sold anonymously Christie's, Anonymous Sale, New York, 24 March 1994, lot 356. Another banquette from the collection of the Viscountes Powerscourt, Powerscourt, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, sold Christie's, London, 10 June 1993, lot 38. And another pair sold Sotheby's, Florence, 1988, lot 570.
The son of the court sculpture Jean-Baptiste Pineau, Nicolas Pineau studied architecture under Jules Hardouin Mansart and Germain Boffrand. In 1716, he accompanied the architect Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste le Blond to Russia to work for Peter the Great, where he assisted in decorating the interiors of Peterhof Palace and the St. Peter and Paul fortress in St. Petersburg. On returning to Paris in 1727, he helped to propagate the new taste for the rococo in a series of influential interiors for hotels in Paris, including the hôtel d'Orrouer and the hôtel de Rouille in 1732, and the hôtel de Mazarin in 1734.
This banquette and the pair of stools in this sale (lot 254) probably originally formed part of a larger suite. A pair of banquettes of the same model was catalogued as German, sold anonymously Christie's, Anonymous Sale, New York, 24 March 1994, lot 356. Another banquette from the collection of the Viscountes Powerscourt, Powerscourt, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, sold Christie's, London, 10 June 1993, lot 38. And another pair sold Sotheby's, Florence, 1988, lot 570.
The son of the court sculpture Jean-Baptiste Pineau, Nicolas Pineau studied architecture under Jules Hardouin Mansart and Germain Boffrand. In 1716, he accompanied the architect Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste le Blond to Russia to work for Peter the Great, where he assisted in decorating the interiors of Peterhof Palace and the St. Peter and Paul fortress in St. Petersburg. On returning to Paris in 1727, he helped to propagate the new taste for the rococo in a series of influential interiors for hotels in Paris, including the hôtel d'Orrouer and the hôtel de Rouille in 1732, and the hôtel de Mazarin in 1734.