A PAIR OF REGENCE BOULLE BRASS-INLAID BROWN TORTOISESHELL AND EBONY SIDE CABINETS

IN THE MANNER OF JEAN BÉRAIN

Details

A PAIR OF REGENCE BOULLE BRASS-INLAID BROWN TORTOISESHELL AND EBONY SIDE CABINETS
In the manner of Jean Bérain
Each with moulded and rounded rectangular top, the centre inlaid with a panel emblematic of the Americas, flanked to one side by a negro page bringing a basket of fruits and within Berainesque scrolls with birds and insects, above two glazed doors framed by scrolls with animals and flowers and enclosing a plain interior, the sides with conforming inlay with birds suspending swags above a winged herm figure and a female figure sitting beneath a baldacchino, on a shaped plinth and toupie feet, losses to decoration, lacking shelves, reconstructed in the early 19th Century
38 in. (97 cm.) wide; 40¼ in. (102 cm.) high; 13½ in. (34 cm.) deep

Lot Essay

The cabinet-tops are veneered with tortoiseshell tablets that are brass-inlaid in the Louis XIV or 'arabesque' manner popularised by the ornamental engravings of Jean Bérain. Depicting the Triumph of the Continent of Africa, celebrated by a plume-dressed native seated on a lambrequined dais, and accompanied by tamed parrots and a turbaned attendant, their ornament relates to that found on late 17th Century bureaux, such as those executed by Bernard van Risenburgh père (1660-1738) and bearing the arms of Max Emmanuel of Bavaria and the duchesse de Retz (P.Ramond, Chefs-d'Oeuvres des Marqueteurs, Paris, 1994, vol.I, pp.135-141 and Treasures from the Royal Collection, London, 1988, no.92).

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