Lot Essay
The rich and finely chased ormolu-mounts decorating this bureau plat appear on a number of other pieces by BVRB II. The only exception is the angle mounts, which although of identical quality and entirely in the manner of BVRB, are not found on any other pieces by this maker. However this phenomenon can be observed on a number of other important BVRB pieces where, for whatever reasons, elements of the ormolu mounts were never repeated.
The ormolu mounts flanking the central drawer are identical to those found on the bureau plat by BVRB formerly in the collection of Lesley and Emma Sheafer, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Acc. no. 1974.356.186, illustrated in W. Rieder, 'BVRB at the Met', Apollo, January 1994, p. 33, figure 1.). They also appear on another bureau plat by this maker which was sold by Lavrin Guilloux, Palais Orsay, Paris, 10th December 1979, lot 82.
The ormolu handles on the drawers are identical to those on a bureau plat delivered by the marchand-mercier Henry Lebrun on 15th February 1745 for the Bibliothèque of the Dauphin, son of Louis XV, at Versailles. This bureau plat, now in a private collection in Paris, is discussed by Pierre Verlet in Le Mobilier Royal Français, Vol. IV, Paris, 1990, pp. 40-41.
The mounts on each end are also found, with slight differences, on a bureau plat by BVRB now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 44123) (Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook, 1991, p. 112).
The information contained in 18th Century archives tends to be too imprecise to enable the formal identification of a bureau plat of this type. However, an entry in the Livre-Journal de Lazare-Duvaux lists the delivery to the comte de Cobentzl on 15 December 1758 of:
'un petit bureau plaqué de même que la commode (tulipwood with flowers in kingwood) garni de bronze et quarts de rond dorés d'ormoulu, le dessus couvert en maroquin, 408 livres'.
JULES PORGES
Jules Porges, the celebrated diamond merchant and mining entrepreneur, was born in Prague and settled in Paris in the early 1860's. His firm Jules Porges & Co. had become the most important and richest diamond firm in the world by the time of the discovery of the Kimberley mines and controlled much of the diamond-cutting in Amsterdam. Porges quickly grasped the importance of South African output on the world market for precious stones and sent two of the firms's representatives there, Julius Wernher and Alfred Beit, in 1873. He himself went to Kimberley in 1876 and set up the Compagnie Française de Diamant du Cap de Bonne Espérance to control the Kimberley mine. One of the founders of the firm De Beers, Porges was closely associated with Cecil Rhodes. He also founded the mining and financial group known as the 'Corner House' in Johannesburg and the firm that was later to become the Central Mining and Investment Corporation of London and Johannesburg.
On Jules Porges' retirement in 1890, his South African interests were taken over by the firm of Wernher, Beit & Co.
Jules Porges made use of his substantial fortune to form an important collection of French furniture, a part of which was sold in the early 1920's following his death. The well-known Louis XV table à Bourgogne by Oeben in the Wernher Collection at Luton Hoo was given by Porges to his friend and colleague Sir Julius Wernher who ran the former's London operation from 1881.
Porges commissioned the architect Paul Ernest Sanson to build a neo-Louis XV mansion in the Avenue Montaigne, Paris between 1895-1899. The interior was described in the following terms:
'le décor intérieur, lambris, cheminées, tapisseries, mobilier, porcelaines, cartels, témoigne de la passion que les propriétaires nourrissaient pour les oeuvres d'art du temps bien-aimé' (Les Champs Elysées et leur quartier, Délégation à L'Action Artistique de la Ville de Paris, 1988, p.198). While the furniture was mostly of the Louis XV period, the picture gallery was hung with paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Claude Lorraine and van Dyck amongst others. At the same time he engaged the architect Charles Mewes in 1896 to build a large château at Rochefort-en-Yvelines, on the plans of the palais de la légion d'honneur in Paris but double the size. Sir Julius Wernher was so impressed by the result that he engaged Charles Mewes for the transfomation of Luton Hoo.
The ormolu mounts flanking the central drawer are identical to those found on the bureau plat by BVRB formerly in the collection of Lesley and Emma Sheafer, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Acc. no. 1974.356.186, illustrated in W. Rieder, 'BVRB at the Met', Apollo, January 1994, p. 33, figure 1.). They also appear on another bureau plat by this maker which was sold by Lavrin Guilloux, Palais Orsay, Paris, 10th December 1979, lot 82.
The ormolu handles on the drawers are identical to those on a bureau plat delivered by the marchand-mercier Henry Lebrun on 15th February 1745 for the Bibliothèque of the Dauphin, son of Louis XV, at Versailles. This bureau plat, now in a private collection in Paris, is discussed by Pierre Verlet in Le Mobilier Royal Français, Vol. IV, Paris, 1990, pp. 40-41.
The mounts on each end are also found, with slight differences, on a bureau plat by BVRB now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. 44123) (Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook, 1991, p. 112).
The information contained in 18th Century archives tends to be too imprecise to enable the formal identification of a bureau plat of this type. However, an entry in the Livre-Journal de Lazare-Duvaux lists the delivery to the comte de Cobentzl on 15 December 1758 of:
'un petit bureau plaqué de même que la commode (tulipwood with flowers in kingwood) garni de bronze et quarts de rond dorés d'ormoulu, le dessus couvert en maroquin, 408 livres'.
JULES PORGES
Jules Porges, the celebrated diamond merchant and mining entrepreneur, was born in Prague and settled in Paris in the early 1860's. His firm Jules Porges & Co. had become the most important and richest diamond firm in the world by the time of the discovery of the Kimberley mines and controlled much of the diamond-cutting in Amsterdam. Porges quickly grasped the importance of South African output on the world market for precious stones and sent two of the firms's representatives there, Julius Wernher and Alfred Beit, in 1873. He himself went to Kimberley in 1876 and set up the Compagnie Française de Diamant du Cap de Bonne Espérance to control the Kimberley mine. One of the founders of the firm De Beers, Porges was closely associated with Cecil Rhodes. He also founded the mining and financial group known as the 'Corner House' in Johannesburg and the firm that was later to become the Central Mining and Investment Corporation of London and Johannesburg.
On Jules Porges' retirement in 1890, his South African interests were taken over by the firm of Wernher, Beit & Co.
Jules Porges made use of his substantial fortune to form an important collection of French furniture, a part of which was sold in the early 1920's following his death. The well-known Louis XV table à Bourgogne by Oeben in the Wernher Collection at Luton Hoo was given by Porges to his friend and colleague Sir Julius Wernher who ran the former's London operation from 1881.
Porges commissioned the architect Paul Ernest Sanson to build a neo-Louis XV mansion in the Avenue Montaigne, Paris between 1895-1899. The interior was described in the following terms:
'le décor intérieur, lambris, cheminées, tapisseries, mobilier, porcelaines, cartels, témoigne de la passion que les propriétaires nourrissaient pour les oeuvres d'art du temps bien-aimé' (Les Champs Elysées et leur quartier, Délégation à L'Action Artistique de la Ville de Paris, 1988, p.198). While the furniture was mostly of the Louis XV period, the picture gallery was hung with paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Claude Lorraine and van Dyck amongst others. At the same time he engaged the architect Charles Mewes in 1896 to build a large château at Rochefort-en-Yvelines, on the plans of the palais de la légion d'honneur in Paris but double the size. Sir Julius Wernher was so impressed by the result that he engaged Charles Mewes for the transfomation of Luton Hoo.