Lot Essay
Jacques Birckle, maître in 1774
The eliptical-fronted commode's projecting and canted pilasters are embellished with Doric metopes and trompe l'oeil flutes, which continue down the tapering columnar feet, while an acanthus-enriched 'Vitruvian' ribbon-scroll decorates its frieze. The facade is inlaid with floral posies accompanying a trompe l'oeil poetic-trophy vignette in the Grecian manner of the 1760s, and framed by a festive berribboned-cord. The central laurel-enriched and flower-festooned medallion, hung from bowed ribbons, portrays a youthful shepherd tying a sheep with a ribbon and derives from the engraving of Francois Boucher's, Le Berger, executed by Claude Ducflos in 1753 (see: P. Jean-Richard, L'Oeuvre gravé de François Boucher, Paris, 1978, no. 933). A pair of commodes with related features bearing the stamp of Martin Ohneberg (maître in 1773) was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 17 May 1968, lot 48
The eliptical-fronted commode's projecting and canted pilasters are embellished with Doric metopes and trompe l'oeil flutes, which continue down the tapering columnar feet, while an acanthus-enriched 'Vitruvian' ribbon-scroll decorates its frieze. The facade is inlaid with floral posies accompanying a trompe l'oeil poetic-trophy vignette in the Grecian manner of the 1760s, and framed by a festive berribboned-cord. The central laurel-enriched and flower-festooned medallion, hung from bowed ribbons, portrays a youthful shepherd tying a sheep with a ribbon and derives from the engraving of Francois Boucher's, Le Berger, executed by Claude Ducflos in 1753 (see: P. Jean-Richard, L'Oeuvre gravé de François Boucher, Paris, 1978, no. 933). A pair of commodes with related features bearing the stamp of Martin Ohneberg (maître in 1773) was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 17 May 1968, lot 48