REGENCY PERIOD CONSOLE TABLE Carved and gilded wood, Flanders marble top, the belt decorated in the centre with an openwork sunflower set in a cartouche flanked by foliage and dragons, the console legs surmounted by a palmette and ending in dolphin heads. H.86 cm (33 ¾ in.) l.166 cm (65 ¼ in.) P.82 cm (32 ¼ in.) A Regence giltwood console Made towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV or at the beginning of the Regency period, this console retains traces of the Louis-Quatorzian style typical of the years after 1700. The perfect symmetry of the central clasp and the scrolls extending below the belt are reminiscent of the compositions of tables and consoles from the Louis XIV period. In terms of the quality of its execution and the richness of its ornamental vocabulary, it can be compared with the work of cabinetmakers and decorators working for the Crown. The sculptors Jules Degoullons (c. 1671-1738), André Legoupil (1660/5-1733), Martin Bellan (†1714) and Pierre Taupin (c. 1692-1739) were the founders, Société pour les Bâtiments du Roi on 21 January 1699. Their primary objective was to work for the sovereign, the princes and princesses of the blood and the principal members of the royal family. Over time, however, they also created works for the nobility, great lords and financiers. As is often the case with gilded wood furniture, unless there is a precise indication of provenance, such as that of the consoles in the Palais Royal, which can be identified thanks to contemporary drawings, it is virtually impossible to find them in the inventories of the Ancien Régime. It should be noted that a console very similar to ours, with similar decoration on the front and side rails, was sold at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, on 17 March 2000, lot 176 (see Fig. 1). The legs of our example feature a rare dolphin motif; a console with similar legs is illustrated in C. Demetrescu, Le Style Régence, Les Éditions de l'Amateur, Paris, 2003, p. 74, Fig. 1 (cfr. Fig. 2).