A Late 18th Century Directoire Period Console Table with Breche Violette Marble Top

A fine late eighteenth century Directoire Period console table, the finely figured breche violette marble top above a single brass mounted drawer with two handles and central lock escutcheon, all raised on brass fluted columns with a lower brass inlaid shelf above turned tapering feet with brass caps and sabots.

This console table exhibits the restraint and sharp lines associated with the Directoire Period in French furniture design. The form is a continuation of the Louis XVI style; however, the severity and reduced surface ornament reflects the political and social austerity of the Post-Revolutionary years. This epoque was a conduit to the pure Classicism of the Empire Period which followed at the turn of the nineteenth century.