The Property of a European Princely Family

A pair of French ormolu and pietra dura-mounted ebonised brass and tortoiseshell 'Boulle' marquetry cabinets-on-stand

IN THE LOUIS XIV STYLE, BY MONBRO AINÉ, PARIS, MID-19TH CENTURY

Details

A pair of French ormolu and pietra dura-mounted ebonised brass and tortoiseshell 'Boulle' marquetry cabinets-on-stand
In the Louis XIV Style, By Monbro Ainé, Paris, Mid-19th Century
Each decorated with scrolling foliage marquetry, one in première partie, the other one in contre-partie, each with a slightly breakfronted cornice above a door with a central fielded panel decorated with a vase of flowers, surmounted on the latter by a ribbon-tied medallion of Louis XIV, on the former by a medallion of his Queen Marie-Thérèse of Spain, enclosing a fitted interior with two adjustable shelves, the central section within 'Boulle' marquetry panels, the lower section fitted with a drawer and with further waved 'Boulle' marquetry panels, on four capital-headed flaring baluster legs joined by a concave fronted platform centred by a flower-applied cassolette, on spirally-twisted toupie feet, both with marque au feur stamped Monbro Aîné to the back inner side of the carcass, both with a paper label to the inside of each panel door, printed H.V.v.W G.v.R. Privat Eigentum No. and in ink numbered 1946 (to the première partie model) and 1945 (to the contre partie), the rear of each with a paper label printed O.N. VILLA
33½ in. (85.2 cm.) wide; 64 7/8 in. (164.7 cm.) high; 18¼ in. (46.3 cm.) deep (2)

Provenance

Olga Nikolaievna, Grand Duchess of Russia and Queen of Württemberg (d. 1892), second daughter of Tsar Nicholas I, Villa Berg, Stuttgart
Vera Konstantinovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, Grand-daughter of Tsar Nicholas I and Duchess of Württemberg (d. 1912), niece of the above Thence by descent

Lot Essay

These exotic Louis Quatorze cabinets, displaying marble bas relief plaques of Florentine pietra commessa, derive in particular from cabinets by Andre Charles Boulle (d. 1732), which King Louis Philippe had had adapted in 1839 (see D. Alcouffe et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Paris, 1993, p. 60-68). Georges-Alphonse-Bonifacio Monbro (d. 1884), who had taken contol of the family's Parisian firm in 1838, exhibited similar cabinets 'de genre Boule' at the Paris 1855 Exhibition. At this time, a pair of related cabinets, incorporating faience plaques after Raphael, were acquired by John Bowes (d. 1885) for his house, the Chateau Du Barry, Louveciennes (ill. S. Kane, 'Le Bowes Museum', L'Estampille/l'Objet d'Art, May 1992, p. 76. Another identical pair were sold in these rooms 15 November 1984, lot 70.
The two collection labels refer to Olga Nikolaievna's house in Stuttgart, Villa Berg (O.N. VILLA) and Herzogin Vera von Württemberg, Grossfürstin von Russland (H.V.v.W. G.v.R.).

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