Console table

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Supported on one or two legs, console tables need to be attached to the wall for stability and are considered to be part of the interior decoration of a room. They were made by a special group of joiners, menuisiers en bâtiments (litt. building carpenters) responsible for the fixed elements in the interior such as paneling, pier glasses and console tables. Unlike other members of the guild, these craftsmen were not required to stamp their output and for that reason it is rarely known who created such works. The apron of this early eighteenth-century console table displays symmetrical carving which is centered on a rosette framed by two scrolling acanthus leaves. The tips of these large leaves playfully touch the wings of two scaled dragons, their tails wrapped around the table’s cabriole legs which end in hoof feet. These fantastic creatures bear similarities to those regularly found in the compositions of the French sculptor Jean-Bernard Toro (1661–1731) celebrated for his ornamental designs.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art