Louis XVI Style Console Stamped C.-G. Winckelsen, France, 1869

Beautiful Louis XVI style console with rounded sides and ornamentation in chiseled and mercury gilded bronze. It opens on the belt with a central drawer and two side drawers decorated with bronze friezes of scrolls and foliage. The bottom of the console is decorated with an elegant panel inlaid with sunflowers in a trellis. The tablet, surrounded by an openwork bronze gallery, and the top of the console are covered with a « vert de mer » marble, and the uprights, adorned with flowers in gilded bronze, rest on sheath feet ending in foliated hooves.

This console is inspired by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) models created during the 18th Century, and its decorative repertoire of marquetry and chiseled and gilded bronzes (see photo attached)

Born in 1812, Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen is one of the most talented cabinet-makers of the Second Empire period, taking inspiration from 18th Century furniture. He mainly used the Louis XVI style decorative motifs but without reverting to simple pastiche and creating then beautiful furniture. Winckelsen’s bronze casting was of the highest quality. He had his workshops in Paris at N°23 Val-Sainte-Catherine in 1854, moved in 1860 to N°21 rue Saint-Louis in the Marais, and in 1867 to N°49 rue de Turenne. His production varied from furniture to decorative works of art, specializing in particular in the Louis XVI style to a very high quality standard. As a very talented cabinet-maker he was often honored the commands from the aristocrats as well as the Paris wealthy high society, such as Lafitte, de Béhague, prince Radziwill. Following Winckelsen’s death in 1871, Henry Dasson (1825-1896) purchased on July 27 the workshop and stock from Winckelsen’s widow.