Console Table
Attributed to François Roumier
The symmetric design of this table, which was meant to be attached to a wall, places it in the early phase of the Rococo style known as Régence, or French Regency. Named for Philippe II, duc d'Orléans, who served as regent to Louis XV for eight years, the style marked a transition from courtly Baroque formality and grandeur to a more sophisticated, frivolous, and intimate sensibility. By the time Louis XV took power, however, the style had evolved into the full-blown asymmetry of the Rococo.