An Admirable Very Fine Louis XVI style Gilt-Bronze Mounted Marble-Top Console de Desserte attributed to Maison Millet

This admirable fine console has a shaped marble top; inset within gilt-bronze border; on a conforming base with decorated gilt bronze mounts. Below is a central cupboard with finely cast gilt-bronze mounts of ribbon tied garlands. The cupboard is flanked by fielded uprights with vases issuing flowers and vines and headed by superbly chiseled Apollo masks. The console has rounded sides with two marble lined open shelves with gilt-bronze galleries and mirrored backs, above tapering legs and gilt-bronze caps.

Established by Théodore Millet in 1853, the Maison Millet operated until 1902 from premises at 11, rue Jacques-Coeur, Paris, before relocating to 23, boulevard Beaumarchais. Millet produced fine quality meubles de luxe, specialising in meubles et bronzes d'art, genre ancien et moderne, with an accent on the Louis XV and XVI styles. The firm's work covered a wide range of furniture, including authorised copies of eighteenth-century styles. Millet won awards in Paris and London including a gold medal at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle, a Grand Prix in 1900 and three further diplomes d'honneur and four médailles d'or. In 1902 the firm was authorised by the director of the Palace of Versailles to replicate Marie-Antoinette's celebrated Grand cabinet à bijoux. Maison Millet was an active client of François Linke.

Maker: attributed to Théodore Millet
Origin: French
Date: Circa 1880
Dimension: 37 3/4 (H) x 76 1/2 (W) x 28 in (D)