Side table (commode en console). Culture: French, Paris. Dimensions: H. 35-1/2 in. (90.2 cm.), W. 37-1/2 in. (95.3 cm.), D. 21 in. (53.3 cm.). Maker: Bernard II van Risenburgh (ca. 1696-ca. 1767). Date: ca. 1755-60.Fitted with one drawer in its frieze, this sophisticated piece is a combination of a console table--designed to be placed against a wall--and a commode--a chest of drawers--as is clearly illustrated by its French name, commode en console. Only a few such tables are known today, and they appear to have been fashionable for but a short period during the middle of the eighteenth century; five were recorded in the account book of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux between December 1753 and February 1757. The most expensive of them, mounted with lacquer and decorated with gilt bronze, was sold on May 13, 1756, for 1,150 livres.1 Since no other example with lacquer is known to exist, this entry in Duvaux's book may describe the Museum's table--but very little else can be said abou