Lot Essay
Designed in the Louis XVI 'antique' manner, this lady's cylinder-desk is arguably the masterpiece of the emigré craftsman Louis Constantin Le Gaigneur (fl. 1814-21), Metal bust maker and French Buhl Manufacturer of 19 Queen Street, Edgware Road. As his limited oeuvre testifies, he appears to have worked almost exclusively for George, Prince of Wales, later George IV, and his most intimate circle.
First recorded in 1814 for the buhl-inlaid ink-trays supplied to Carlton House, Le Gaigneur enjoyed prolonged patronage from the Prince and on the 14 November 1815 received an advance payment of #500 for the pair of 'Very handsome Metalic Buhl ornament' library-tables delivered for the Marine Pavilion at Brighton, now at Windsor Castle. Their prototype appears to be the bureau-plat purchased by the Prince's confidante Lord Yarmouth, later 3rd Marquis of Hertford, which remains in the Wallace Collection, London, (F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, F479, pp. 244-5, pl. 95). Although likewise inscribed Louis le Gaigneur fecit, it would in reality seem to be a Louis XIV bureau plat that Le Gaigneur re-veneered and adapted in the prevalent antiquarian taste.
As John Nash's view of the North Drawing Room at Brighton Pavilion circa 1823 reveals, Le Gaigneur's library tables were flanked by small writing-tables (J. Nash, Views of the Royal Pavilion Brighton, 1826). It is therefore of particular interest that a closely related writing-table, featuring identical acanthus-wrapped hermed-legs to this cylinder-bureau, was presented by the Prince Regent to the cuckolded husband of his mistress, the 1st Marquis of Conyngham. This has recently been acquired for Brighton Pavilion (No. 340-322).
Inspired by French prototypes and related to the 'lady's cylinder-desk' published in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholster's Drawing-Book, 1793, p. 47 (although admittedly with a cartonier rather than the glazed superstructure), this roll-top desk is extremely closely related to the cabinet-on-stand at Attingham, Shropshire. Fitted with numerous drawers and displaying a coronet-ensigned SB cypher to the doors, the Attingham Cabinet was almost certainly commissioned by Thomas Hill, 2nd Lord Berwick (d. 1832), another of the Prince of Wales's intimates, following his marriage to Sophia Dubouchet in 1812. Although unsigned, Berwick certainly patronised Le Gaigneur as there is a signed inkwell at Attinham (M. Levy, 'Taking up the pen', Country Life, 23 April 1992, p. 60, fig. 1). The Attingham cabinet featured in Mr. Robinson's catalogue of the Attingham sale on 30 June 1827, lot 115, as 'A Magnificent tortoiseshell and buhl Parisian cabinet', but was happily retained by William Hill, later 3rd Lord Berwick.
Le Gaigneur's unusual practice of signing his oeuvre, perhaps the legacy of an ébénistes apprenticeship in Paris, allows for the clear identification of his patrons. What is so remarkable is the prolonged, even exclusive patronage by the Prince's most intimate circle of a relatively obscure craftsman, established so far from the fashionable cabinet-making centre of St. Martin's Lane. Though pure conjecture, it would be surprising if this cylinder-bureau was not also commissioned by one of the Prince's intimates, even the Regent himself!
First recorded in 1814 for the buhl-inlaid ink-trays supplied to Carlton House, Le Gaigneur enjoyed prolonged patronage from the Prince and on the 14 November 1815 received an advance payment of #500 for the pair of 'Very handsome Metalic Buhl ornament' library-tables delivered for the Marine Pavilion at Brighton, now at Windsor Castle. Their prototype appears to be the bureau-plat purchased by the Prince's confidante Lord Yarmouth, later 3rd Marquis of Hertford, which remains in the Wallace Collection, London, (F.J.B. Watson, Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, F479, pp. 244-5, pl. 95). Although likewise inscribed Louis le Gaigneur fecit, it would in reality seem to be a Louis XIV bureau plat that Le Gaigneur re-veneered and adapted in the prevalent antiquarian taste.
As John Nash's view of the North Drawing Room at Brighton Pavilion circa 1823 reveals, Le Gaigneur's library tables were flanked by small writing-tables (J. Nash, Views of the Royal Pavilion Brighton, 1826). It is therefore of particular interest that a closely related writing-table, featuring identical acanthus-wrapped hermed-legs to this cylinder-bureau, was presented by the Prince Regent to the cuckolded husband of his mistress, the 1st Marquis of Conyngham. This has recently been acquired for Brighton Pavilion (No. 340-322).
Inspired by French prototypes and related to the 'lady's cylinder-desk' published in Thomas Sheraton's Cabinet-Maker and Upholster's Drawing-Book, 1793, p. 47 (although admittedly with a cartonier rather than the glazed superstructure), this roll-top desk is extremely closely related to the cabinet-on-stand at Attingham, Shropshire. Fitted with numerous drawers and displaying a coronet-ensigned SB cypher to the doors, the Attingham Cabinet was almost certainly commissioned by Thomas Hill, 2nd Lord Berwick (d. 1832), another of the Prince of Wales's intimates, following his marriage to Sophia Dubouchet in 1812. Although unsigned, Berwick certainly patronised Le Gaigneur as there is a signed inkwell at Attinham (M. Levy, 'Taking up the pen', Country Life, 23 April 1992, p. 60, fig. 1). The Attingham cabinet featured in Mr. Robinson's catalogue of the Attingham sale on 30 June 1827, lot 115, as 'A Magnificent tortoiseshell and buhl Parisian cabinet', but was happily retained by William Hill, later 3rd Lord Berwick.
Le Gaigneur's unusual practice of signing his oeuvre, perhaps the legacy of an ébénistes apprenticeship in Paris, allows for the clear identification of his patrons. What is so remarkable is the prolonged, even exclusive patronage by the Prince's most intimate circle of a relatively obscure craftsman, established so far from the fashionable cabinet-making centre of St. Martin's Lane. Though pure conjecture, it would be surprising if this cylinder-bureau was not also commissioned by one of the Prince's intimates, even the Regent himself!