A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ORMOLU MOUNTED TULIPWOOD, AMARANTH, MAHOGANY, SYCAMORE AND POLYCHOME DECORATED MEUBLES D'ENTRE DEUX

Description:

Attributed to Ferdinand Bury, the bronzes attributed to Jean-Louis Prevost, last third 18th century
91 x 99 x 30,5 cm
Each with rectangular shaped white marble top, the chiffonier with a frieze drawer with entrelac motif above four drawers decorated sans travers with a flower basket surrounded by entwining flower sprays, above a faux marble plinth. The sideboard with a frieze drawer above a pair of doors, enclosing a fitted interior with a shelf, an open compartment and two cupboard doors, above a faux marble plinth. Minor restorations (restored shrinkage cracks), the bronze mounts partially polished, small repairs to the marble tops, the floral decoration partially with retouches. The key to the half-cupboard cannot be removed. Drawer without key. Traces of age.
European Private Collection
Sotheby's, Paris, Collection Madame Djahanguir Riahi - Les oevres que j'ai aimees, 6. July 2017, Lot 140
Lit.: - B. G. B. Pallot, « Les meubles peints sur fond d’érable sycomore », Connaissance des Arts, février 1987, pp. 98-107
- 18e, aux sources du design, chefs-d’œuvre du mobilier de 1650 à 1790, Dijon, 2014, cat. 60, pp. 206-207
With its unusual painted decoration on sycamore wood, this pair of furniture belongs to a series of artistic innovations that strongly characterised the 18th century in France: in the era of Louis XV and Louis XVI, Chinese lacquer, Martin lacquer, painted sheet metal and porcelain plates were increasingly used in furniture decoration.
However, the type of decoration shown here was only used in a very limited period from 1770-1800, and accordingly there are only a few surviving examples:
- a commode with the stamp of Joseph Baumhauer (sale by Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, Sotheby's New York, 20 May 1992, lot 93)
- a secretary attributed to Joseph Baumhauer (Waddesdon Manor), which, like the previous chest of drawers, comes from the former collection of Nicolas Beaujon.
- a chiffonnier with the stamps of Ferdinand Bury and Jean-Baptiste II Tuart, previously in the collections of Arnold Seligmann, Jean Davray, Jean Gismondi, Roberto Polo and later Pierrette Cordier (his auction in Paris, Sotheby's, 16 December 2004, lot 173)
- a pair of small cabinets in sequence with the present cabinets, also from the Rothschild, then Rosebery collections in Mentmore (auctioned by Sotheby's on 18 May 1977, lot 451)
- a half-moon chest of drawers, stamped by Cosson (formerly Arnold Seligmann, later Earl of Rosebery Collection, Dalmeny House, Scotland)
- a pair of cabinet bases, one of which was remodelled around 1840 (private collection in Paris) and its probably also remodelled counterpart (Earl of Rosebery Collection, Dalmeny House, Scotland)
- a pair of consoles made later than the previous examples during the Consulate (Banque de France).
Of these pieces of furniture, the first two are identifiable in the auction of the court banker Nicolas Beaujon in 1787: from the auction catalogue we learn that the famous enthusiast had ‘ordered the distribution and taste’ and that the painter in charge of the decoration was Jean-Louis Prévost the Younger (1740-1810). The realisation of such furniture required the involvement of a third party who coordinated the work of the cabinetmaker, the painter, but also the deliveries of the bronze and marble merchant. For the Beaujon ensemble, this was done by his house architect Etienne-Louis Boullée, from whom a drawing with a very similar design for a chest of drawers has been preserved (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris). This and the secretary were probably made around 1770, as Joseph Baumhauer died in 1772.
Interestingly, one of Boullée's students, the architect Théodore-Alexandre Brongniart, also owned two pairs of painted cabinet bases on a sycamore base, which are described in the catalogue of his auction on 22 March 1792 under lots 165 and 166.
As far as the double-stamped chiffonnier and the cabinets by Mentmore are concerned, it can be assumed that the fashion introduced by Beaujon was taken up by Jean-Baptiste II Tuart, a skilful cabinetmaker and haberdasher: He turned to the cabinetmaker Ferdinand Bury (after 1774, the date of his admission to the master school) and most likely also to Prévost, whose delicate floral compositions, especially the twisting garlands, are recognisable.
The exceptionally decorative furniture was probably made as part of a complete room ensemble so that the furniture fitted in perfectly with appropriately decorated wall panelling.
This lot is subject to standard taxation: a premium of 24.5 % will be charged on the hammer price. Statutory VAT is payable on the hammer price plus premium.