A LOUIS XV GILTWOOD CONSOLE 'AUX CHIMERES'

The serpent-dragons entwined around the legs derive from table patterns conceived by Nicolas Pineau in his Nouveaux Desseins de Pieds de Tables et de Vases et Consoles de Sculpture en bois, published by J. J. Mariette in 1734. The heads of the dragons are similar to those which appear on a console table in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, illustrated Chefs - d'oeuvre du Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 1985, p. 49, the pair to which is in the Toledo Museum, Ohio.
Bearing the coat-of-arms of the illustrious Rohan family, this console was probably supplied to furnish one of the residences of the influent Cardinal Armand Gaston Maximilien de Rohan (1674-1749), Bishop of Strasbourg, including the Hôtel Rohan in Paris, and the Palais Rohan in Strasbourg.