ATTRIBUTED TO HENRY DASSON, PARIS, CIRCA 1880

The present console is based on a model by Georges Jacob commissioned by the Comte d'Artois (1757-1836) for his cabinet turc at Versailles and currently in the Louvre (OA 5234). The Comte d'Artois was known for his excessive and hedonistic lifestyle and was one of the first royals to flee France after the fall of the Bastille in July 1789. He had numerous residences with three different cabinets turcs: one at Versailles and two others at his Parisian home, the Palais du Temple. Jacob's model, circa 1780, and is supported by four legs surmounted by intertwined siren-like figures flanking an elaborately carved upright, all of which presage the support on the present console.

The present lot may be attributed to Henry Dasson on the basis of a comparison with a pair of similar consoles stamped by Dasson and sold Sotheby's, London, 15 May 1998 (£117,000). Another pair, also attributed to Dasson, is illustrated C. Mestagh, L'Ameublement d'art français 1850-1900, Paris, 2010, p. 230. Mestagh illustrates another console by Maison Millet, sold Christie's, London, 1 October 2003, lot 126 (op cit., pp. cover, 228-228). The present console demonstrates superior qualities of form, chasing and construction which are strongly evocative of Dasson's work as is the bleu turquin marble top which, interestingly, is the same as that on Jacob's model in the Louvre.