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A superb pair of Empire gilt and patinated bronze mounted mahogany consoles attributed to Bernard Molitor, the original black marble top with inlaid white band above a frieze drawer centred by a frieze mount portraying mythological scenes depicting the Sacrifice to Ceres flanked at either end by a beautiful classical maiden playing the lyre one seated in an antique Greek klismos the other in an antique gondola shaped chair, above square tapering supports headed by patinated bronze classical female caryatid busts with coiled hair centred by a gilded star, the supports headed by foliated scrolled mounts and terminating in human feet, the posterior angular supports flanking a mirrored glass on a breakfronted rectangular plinth
Paris, date circa 1805-10
Height 88 cm, width 75 cm, depth 42 cm. each.
Literature: Ulrich Leben, “Molitor, Ebéniste from the Ancien Régime to the Bourbon Restoration”, 1992, p. 144, pl. 146 (cat. no. 42), illustrating a single door Cuban mahogany commode attributed to Molitor of circa 1802 adorned with an identical bas-relief frieze portraying the Sacrifice to Ceres; and p. 145, pl. 147 (cat. no 65A), illustrating a Cuban mahogany bonheur-du-jour stamped B. Molitor featuring an identical bas-relief frieze as here flanked by identical seated female musicians.
The present pair of consoles attributed to Bernard Molitor (1755-1833) not only feature the same friezes and in the case of the bonheur-du-jour, the same flanking mounts as here (as illustrated in Leben, ibid) but also like the latter examples feature caryatid female busts above rectangular supports. The use of bas-relief friezes was extremely rare in Molitor’s oeuvre; they either consisted of scenes of putti (as on an armoire of circa 1808-12) or that showing the Sacrifice to Ceres, as also appearing on a small Molitor bas d’armoire. Leben notes that the mouldings for this particular frieze were executed by the Manufacture Royale de Sèvres and can be dated to circa 1791.
Ceres, the mythological goddess of agriculture was especially associated with corn and as the personification of earth’s abundance is often shown as here with a corn-sheaf and sickle. According to mythology Ceres was the mother of Proserpine who was carried to the underworld by Pluto; Ceres searched everywhere for her daughter causing the earth to remain barren until her daughter was found. In art Ceres’ tireless search is sometimes represented as here by her riding on a chariot, often pulled by dragons but here, as in a model for a clock case, (sculptured by Philippe-Laurent Roland and realised by Pierre-Philippe Thomire; illustrated in Hans Ottomeyer and Peter Pröschel, “Vergoldete Bronzen”, 1986, p. 342, pl. 5.5.1) it is pulled by a pair of lions. To the right of Ceres are various figures making sacrifices to her to ensure the harvest. Molitor appears to have delighted in the idea of corn and plenty and often included associated mounts on his work. He also often included beautiful classical female caryatid head capitals on squared supports terminating in either bare human or cloven feet.
As one of the finest furniture-makers from before the Revolution to the Restoration, Molitor combined originality and individuality to accord with changing fashions. Born in Luxembourg of German parents, by 1778 he had settled in Paris, where 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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