Lot Essay
The shape of this bureau cabinet is conceived in the manner of the cabinet work produced in Mainz in the mid-18th Century. A number of drawings from cabinet-makers who submitted designs for their 'master' work have survived, and these have made it possible to identify the stylistic characteristics of cabinet-making in Mainz. A drawing submitted by Joseph Wimer in 1747, now in the Kunstbibliothek, Berlin (H. Zinnkann, 'Meisterstücke Mainzer Möbel des 18. Jahrhunderts', Exhibition Catalogue, Frankfurt, 1988, p. 32, fig. 14), depicts a cabinet with similar superstructure and divisions of drawers. It is, however, heavier in appearance and lacking its writing-slope, while a bureau cabinet signed by the same cabinet-maker and probably made within a few years of that, displays the same rythmic appearance of the writing-slope and angles as this cabinet. A further similar bureau-cabinet with the same straight outline was submitted by Jakob Weinheimer in 1746 (F. Arens, Meisterrisse und Möbel der Mainzer Schreiner, Mainz, 1955, plate 50). That bureau-cabinet stands on the same lightly scrolling feet as on this cabinet and that seem to appear for the first time in a 'master' drawings of circa 1742 by Kaspar Rothweiler (Arens, op. cit., plate 43). The arched drawer surmounted by a nearly identical scroll above the writing-slope, which is an unusual feature for these cabinets, is found in a drawing by Joseph Hoffmann of 1742 (Arens, op. cit., plate 44).
Very unusual for bureau-cabinets from Mainz is the rich and figural decoration of the surface and the ivory inlay. A figural inlay, depicting the personifications of the four Seasons below a canopy, appears on a cabinet-on-chest which was made by Adam Kreuss in 1747 (Zinnkann, op. cit., pp. 118-119, cat. XII). This type of marquetry is normally associated with works made in Frankfurt and even more so in Braunschweig. One such example with inlay in ivory is in the Reiss-Museum, Mannheim (H. Kreisel ed., Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, Munich, 1970, vol. II, fig. 875), but it lacks the same fluidity of shape, pierced angle volutes and scrolling angles flanking the writing-slope, so characteristic of Mainz.
A bureau-cabinet of similar outline and figural marquetry from the collection of Mrs. James de Rothschild was sold in these Rooms, 6 April 1978, lot 78, while a further bureau-cabinet, lacking the figural inlay and with shaped pediment, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 26 May 1989, lot 131. A further Mainz bureau-cabinet with gilt-brass mounts and parquetry inlay was sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 27 October 1990, lot 69.
Very unusual for bureau-cabinets from Mainz is the rich and figural decoration of the surface and the ivory inlay. A figural inlay, depicting the personifications of the four Seasons below a canopy, appears on a cabinet-on-chest which was made by Adam Kreuss in 1747 (Zinnkann, op. cit., pp. 118-119, cat. XII). This type of marquetry is normally associated with works made in Frankfurt and even more so in Braunschweig. One such example with inlay in ivory is in the Reiss-Museum, Mannheim (H. Kreisel ed., Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, Munich, 1970, vol. II, fig. 875), but it lacks the same fluidity of shape, pierced angle volutes and scrolling angles flanking the writing-slope, so characteristic of Mainz.
A bureau-cabinet of similar outline and figural marquetry from the collection of Mrs. James de Rothschild was sold in these Rooms, 6 April 1978, lot 78, while a further bureau-cabinet, lacking the figural inlay and with shaped pediment, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 26 May 1989, lot 131. A further Mainz bureau-cabinet with gilt-brass mounts and parquetry inlay was sold anonymously at Christie's New York, 27 October 1990, lot 69.