20 
House & Garden 
THE EVOLUTION 
GARDNER TEALL 
A T first thought it would appear 
. both ambitious and somewhat 
footless—this hobby of collecting 
consoles. But that depends on how 
you consider collecting in general; 
on whether you realize that you may 
make a collection of purely practical 
objects or of curios with uncertain 
decorative value. For both of these 
are prized by the collector. 
Thus, one might not be inclined to 
consider house furnishings collec¬ 
tions at all. But when some order 
enters into their selection and ar¬ 
rangement, they virtually become col¬ 
lections just as, on the other hand, 
an aggregation of medals, a cabinet 
of jade or a chest of Georgian silver 
can be made to play a decorative role in the 
house when well placed. 
It would, of course, be out of place to 
expect a cottage to provide the proper set¬ 
ting for Louis XIV consoles, but just how 
lovely some of the Adam console tables ap¬ 
pear in the home of moderate aspects can 
well be understood. 
The Origin of Console 
The use of the term console in this con¬ 
nection has been a matter of some dispute. 
It is reasonable to suppose that it was bor¬ 
rowed, because of the bracket supports—as 
distinguished from tables with four legs— 
from the French architectural term console, 
a bracket support. 
Since the idea came from the French, we 
must expect to find some of the 
earliest and most beautiful consoles 
in French period furniture. Some 
of the most notable ones to be found 
in America are in the collection of 
the Metropolitan Museum of Art 
in New York. Fortunate it is that 
these are available for public study, 
for many modern furniture makers 
have been able to reproduce with 
fidelity the designs of these won¬ 
derful old consoles. 
Collectors, of course, do not pri¬ 
marily seek reproductions, but many 
of the foremost among them realize 
that where originals are not obtain¬ 
able, unusually fine reproductions 
are to be welcomed. The desir¬ 
ability lies not only in age, but in 
intrinsic beauty. I for one believe 
that much pleasure can be had from 
the possession of fine reproductions 
of certain things, consoles among 
them. 
Genuine antiques are the things we 
naturally strive for first of all, and 
consoles present a field that is by no 
means forbidding, even for the mod¬ 
erately filled purse. To be sure, the 
rare French consoles of the early 
Louis periods are not to be had at 
every turn—the cataclysmic war in 
Europe has rendered them still rarer 
—but there are English consoles and 
console tables and others by early American 
furniture makers that are surely worth 
hunting out. Their suitability to the scheme 
of the small house commends their preser¬ 
vation and insures a revival of interest in 
their modern use. 
A Universal Design 
Practically all of the 18th Century furni¬ 
ture makers constructed console tables. 
Gilded furniture in all its gorgeousness 
found favor in England shortly before 1720, 
and the consoles and console tables were un¬ 
usually well adapted to finish and decoration 
of the sort that suggested the magnificence 
of Louis XIV and, later on, the elegance 
and richness of Louis XV. During the Em¬ 
pire period some were elaborately decorated 
in white and gold. With the advent 
of the Napoleonic era, the console 
and the console table still held sway. 
Indeed, I do not think they have 
ever lost favor, and the last few 
years have seen a remarkable in¬ 
crease of interest in both furniture 
forms on the part of decorators and 
collectors of fine old furniture. 
Moreover, the console has not only 
interested but influenced many of 
our present-day architects. 
The console and the console 
table are by no means confined to 
the furniture makers of France, 
Great Britain and America. We 
The modern console can combine many charac¬ 
teristics of the French designs and still be sim¬ 
ple and consistent. This ivas designed by Walton 
(£• Watson, decorators 
A console with plinth, 
from the period of 
Louis XVI, showing 
one stage of develop¬ 
ment from the table 
The console below, 
also from the period 
of Louis XVI, shows 
the bracket instead of 
the full length plinth 
In the period of the Regency the supports de- All the elegance of Louis XV is crystallized in A Loins XVI console of carved and gilded wood 
veloped the most elaborate decorations. The the richly gilded design of this console with its throughout. These and other photographs by 
top ivas usually marble heavy marble top courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum 
