CONSULATE PERIOD PEDESTAL TABLE Attributed to Bernard Molitor In mahogany and mahogany veneer, top in Ardennes royal grey marble, the shaft in lacquered wood and partly gilded in imitation bronze, resting on blackened wooden claw feet ending in castors; small accidents. H. 79 cm (31 in.) D. 98 cm (38 ½ in.) Provenance : By family tradition, Count François Marie de Bastard d'Estang (1783-1844). Comparative bibliography : U. Leben, Molitor Ebéniste de Louis XVI à Louis XVIII, Éditions d'Art Monelle Hayot, 1992, p. 165, fig. 114. An Consulat parcel-gilt, ebonised and mahogany gueridon, attributed to Bernard Molitor This type of circular monopod pedestal table, which had existed in Antiquity, reappeared in the aftermath of the French Revolution, in an attempt to imitate the simplicity of Antiquity. In particular, the superimposition of geometric motifs, such as the fleuron inscribed in a rhombus or the stylised palmette adorning the three sides of the shaft, were inspired by Pompeii. The unusual design of the shaft brings our example close to the "Table de Déjeûner" model (see fig. 1) from the collection by La Mésangère, Paris, 1802, pl. 49(1). A pedestal table of the same model as ours is attributed to Bernard Molitor (cf. fig. 2) by Professor Ulrich Leben in the monograph he dedicated to the work of this cabinetmaker(2); in particular the carved reliefs on the central foot can be compared to the ornaments on a daybed stamped by Molitor from the former Lefèvre collection(3). A pedestal table similar to ours was sold at Christie's Paris on 29 November 2017, lot 149 (see fig. 3). Finally, we should mention the existence of a model with some slight variations in the decoration of the shaft; it is kept at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (inv. 36218) and is illustrated in M.N. De Grandy, Le Mobilier Français Directoire Consulat et Empire, Massin, Paris, 1996, p. 64. According to family tradition, this pedestal table was part of the furniture of Count François Marie De Bastard d'Estang (1783-1844). The Count was a councillor at the Imperial Court of Paris in 1810 before becoming President of the Court of Lyon in 1815. A peer of France in 1819, he conducted the trial of Louvel, murderer of the Duc de Berry. (1) P.M. Kenny, F.F. Brettet and U. Leben, Honoré Lannuier, Cabinet Maker from Paris, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1998, p. 193, pl. 97. (2) U. Leben, Molitor Ébéniste de Louis XVI à Louis XVIII, Éditions d'Art Monelle Hayot, 1992, p. 165, fig. 114. (3) ibid. p. 204 fig. 156 A.