Details
A RENAISSANCE STYLE SILVERED-BRONZE MOUNTED IVORY AND EBONY-INLAID EBONIZED 'PRUNKKABINETT'
THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY, ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES HUNSINGER
With domed rectangular cornice inlaid with stylized palmettes and foliate scrolls above an arched rectangular egg-and-dart cast moulding above a fall-front inlaid with frolicking cherubs emblematic of Music over a rectangular case fitted with two doors, each fitted with panels depicting scantily clad dancing maidens within foliate scrolling niches, on foliate plinths ending in panther masks alternating with pilasters inlaid with rosettes and leaf-tips applied at the cornice with crisply cast foliate scrolling brackets with female masks and shells, the sides inlaid with similar niches enclosing finely engraved flower-filled urns, all on a conforming leaf-tip cast plinth with bracket feet inlaid with stylized meandering vines
81½in. (207cm.) high, 53½in. (135.5cm.) wide, 27in. (68.5cm.) deep
Provenance
By repute, Ludwig II, King of Bavaria, purportedly purchased at the 1867 Exposition Universelle, Paris
By repute, presented as a gift to his Minister of Finance
Thence by descent and acquired by the present owner
Ludwig II, King of Bavaria (1845-1886) qualifies as perhaps one of the most eccentric of the Wittelsbach dynasty, which has reigned in Bavaria for well over 700 years since 1180. His renowned patronage of the theater, saving Richard Wagner's oeuvre from obscurity is as legendary as his masterminding the designs for the castles Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee, which represent the zenith of 'Historismus' architecture in Germany during the second half of the 19th century. His completed and recorded architectural visions set the stage for a royal life which remains as fascinating as it does mysterious - he is remembered as the bavarian 'Märchenkönig' who progressively withdrew from the public eye to fulfill his architectural fantasies up until the obscured circumstances surrounding his death.
It is likely that the offered lot formed part of the furnishings originally in Ludwig II's first apartments in the north-east corner of the Residenz in Munich, which were furnished virtually entirely in the Louis XIV style, an expression of which is certainly found in the Berainesque scrolling foliate arabesques and lyrical figural marquetry on the offered lot. The apartments were destroyed during the Second World War, the remainder of furnishings are now at Schloss Herrenchiemsee.
Numerous leading ébénistes of the late 19th century were designing and producing mobilier and objects d'art for the aristocracy and the emerging merchant class, most notably Befort Jeune, Louis Auguste Beurdeley, Joseph Cremer, Frederic Roux and Charles Hunsinger, all of whom executed exemplary pieces similar to the offered lot. Charles Hunsinger is the most likely of these artisans to have created this outstanding 'Prunkkabinett'. His oeuvre includes furniture executed in the popular Renaissance style working both in ebony and ivory. The 1867 Paris L'art industriel à l'exposition cites a meuble d'appui related to the offered lot: '...il faut citer M. Hunsinger, l'un des lauréats de l'Union centrale des beaux-arts appliqués à l'industrie, un homme que le succès à fortifié et c'est ce qu'on ne peut pas dire de tous. Son grand meuble d'appui, ébène et ivoire, rapelle les plus belles pages du dessin, quoique la gravure en soit un peu seche.' (see A. Luchet, Paris, 1868). An armoire signed 'Hunsinger et Wagner, Paris', in the Österreichisches Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Vienna, is illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, ibid.
