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A very fine Empire gilt and patinated bronze mounted mahogany console attributed to Bernard Molitor, the original rectangular Belgian black marble top above a frieze drawer centred by an applied vase between a pair of lions terminating in scrolls, flanked by stars and palmettes above square tapering supports headed by classical female caryatid busts terminating in lion paw feet, on a rectangular base
Paris, date circa 1805
Height cm, width cm, depth cm.
This very fine console incorporates several elements distinct to the work of Bernard Molitor (1755-1833). Firstly Molitor often featured tapering pilaster supports, surmounted by female herm capitals with the same distinct braided hair and double beaded necklace, as evidenced by a similar console of 1803, illustrated in Ulrich Leben, Molitor, Ebéniste from the Ancien Régime to the Bourbon Restoration”, 1992, p. 99, pl. 95, cat. 88. The latter also exhibits the same overall shape having a plain rectangular top and base and similar mounts below the classical busts. The present piece however, features paw feet rather than rams’ hooves but elsewhere Molitor frequently incorporated paw feet at the base of tapering supports. He also tended to decorate his work with similar bronze star and palmette mounts and favoured the combination of patinated and gilt bronze for this purpose.
As one of the finest furniture-makers from before the Revolution to the Restoration, Molitor combined originality and individuality to accord with changing fashions. He was born in Luxembourg of German parents and by 1778 had settled in Paris with his cousin Michel Molitor. He became a maître in 1787 and received several royal commissions, surviving the Revolution and was later honoured with orders from the Directoire, the Emperor Napoleon, King Jérôme of Westphalia as well as a number of important private patrons including the duc de Choiseul-Praslin. His use of a maker’s stamp was irregular and thus authentic pieces are sometimes difficult to identify. Examples by and attributed to Molitor (listed in Leben’s monograph) can be found in Paris at the Musées du Louvre, Marmottan, des Arts the Mobilier National and Nissim de Camondo as well as the Châteaux de Malmaison, Versailles and Daubeuf in Normandy. Other works are housed in the Wallace Collection London, Cleveland Museum of Art Ohio, the Carnegie Institute Pittsburg, Huntington Library and Art Gallery in San Marino, Toledo Museum of Art Ohio, Schloss Wilhelmshöhe Kassel and in numerous private collections.
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