Understanding eighteenth-century French is not always easy. Translating it into another language is sometimes just as difficult, if not more so, given the lack of standardization and changing vocabulary. A case in point are twenty various consoles that Intendant Claude-Thomas Dupuy recorded in the intendant's palace. These were among the objects confiscated to pay his debts after he was removed from office in 1728. What exactly is a console? Although the term is perhaps first associated with the console table or table en console, double checking period dictionaries and rethinking the 1728 list had me reconsider this definition.
The fact that Dupuy mentioned ten consoles as proper for holding porcelains suggests that he was actually describing wall brackets, or consoles murales. Also referred to as appliques, such mountable brackets were ideal for the display of porcelain vessels, clocks, and other decorative objects or lighting fixtures including girandoles and candlesticks.
These decorative stands might be of giltwood or ormolu (gilt bronze); the latter often came equipped with small marble tops on which to pose the intended object. Because Dupuy mentioned marble elsewhere and not with respects to these consoles, it is likely that they were giltwood. Excepting kitchen implements, they are the only objects whose placement in the palace was recorded by the ex-intendant; he described them as part of the furnishings for the petit cabinet and elsewhere.
These decorative stands might be of giltwood or ormolu (gilt bronze); the latter often came equipped with small marble tops on which to pose the intended object. Because Dupuy mentioned marble elsewhere and not with respects to these consoles, it is likely that they were giltwood. Excepting kitchen implements, they are the only objects whose placement in the palace was recorded by the ex-intendant; he described them as part of the furnishings for the petit cabinet and elsewhere.
By installing wall brackets in the palace, Intendant Dupuy followed tenets of late baroque design from the previous century. Born in Paris, the Huguenot Daniel Marot (1661-1752) fled to the Low Countries around the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685; this royal decree had granted French Calvinists the right to worship unmolested since 1598. Marot and other Huguenot artisans transported French baroque style to the Netherlands, Britain, and even the American colonies. Marot himself found patrons including the future William III and Mary II, who commissioned him to redesign rooms in their Dutch palace at Het Loo and later in England at Hampton Court Palace.
Among Marot's designs for interiors were rows of brackets and matching tables and stands, often set on either side of fireplaces. These were in turn used for the display luxury items, specifically porcelain vases, saucers, and other vessels. The fashion for such consoles or appliques held on into the eighteenth century. French designer Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754) published examples of brackets in the 1720s and 1730s, noting how decorative ceramics might be set on the bracket.
Among Marot's designs for interiors were rows of brackets and matching tables and stands, often set on either side of fireplaces. These were in turn used for the display luxury items, specifically porcelain vases, saucers, and other vessels. The fashion for such consoles or appliques held on into the eighteenth century. French designer Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754) published examples of brackets in the 1720s and 1730s, noting how decorative ceramics might be set on the bracket.