The table rests on two rocaille-legs that are formed by two C-volute forms. The legs are connected by the curved frieze and a connection at the base that are both decorated with an asymmetrical cartouche.
The balanced design of the console suggests it is manufactured in the period between 1735 and 1745. The typical asymmetrie of the Rococo is to be found in the decoration of the Frieze as well as the base and in the delicate vine and flower motives. A frivolous detail are the frog and two lizards on the lower connection of the legs.
Consoles were standard furniture in interiors of the day. The formed part of the paneling of a room or parlour. Often they were completed with a mirror in a beautiful frame. The designs for the panelwork were made by architects or designers and crafted by master carvers, but were seldom signed. The quality of this console however justifies the attribution to Nicolas Pineau.
Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754) was the son of woodcarver Jean-Baptiste Pineau who, amongst others, worked on the construction of Versailles. Nicolas was one of the young talents that went to st. Petersburg with Alexander le Blond in 1716 to work on the palaces of Czar Peter the Great. Le Blond died in 1719 and from that moment on it was Pineau who made the decorative designs in st. Petersburg.
Around 1730 Pineau returned to Paris. His great talent and free style of designing swiftly made him one of the most wanted dessinateurs. The introduction of the “goût pittoresque” that initiated the use of asymmetrie in the decoration of rooms is largely to be attributed to Pineau. The basic idea was that the larger image had to be symmetrical (‘symmétrie perspective’) but that certain elements like the quasi natural rocaille ornaments allowed a certain degree of asymmetrie (‘symmétrie contrastée). This should give the beholder such a natural impression of unity, that he did not want to disturb it. The principle of asymmetrical symmetrie did not only apply to the panelwork but also to the ‘meubles de menuiserie’ like the consoles.