Lot 210
210
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY
A FINE FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY BUREAU A CYLINDRE, in the Transitional Style,attributed to Paul Sormani, Paris, the top with a pierced brass serpentine shaped three-quarter gallery, inlaid with a portrait medallion with a ribbon-tied laurel wreath, flanked to each side by a festive urn, the cylinder front centred by an inlaid landscape of figures by a canal with houses within a shaped border, on a parquetry ground and flanked to each side by ribbon-tied trophies, above a frieze drawer inlaid to the front with three landscape panels, and with a foliate panel to each side, the interior with three hinged panels, the centre inlaid with musical trophies and a draped urn flanking each side, the interiors each lined with velvet, the left hand with a compartmented interior with a parcel-gilt glass cup and saucer, a glass and stoppered bottle, the centre with a mirror, the bombe sides each with a twin-handled urn on pedestal with oval ivory portrait medallion within foliate festoons, the back also of bombe shape centred by musical trophies, with ribbon-tied foliage flanking, on cabriole legs, headed by grotesque masks with acanthus and claw sabots,late 19th Century 33in. (84cm.) wide; 41in. (104cm.) high; 20½in. (52cm.) deep

Details
A FINE FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY BUREAU A CYLINDRE, in the Transitional Style,attributed to Paul Sormani, Paris, the top with a pierced brass serpentine shaped three-quarter gallery, inlaid with a portrait medallion with a ribbon-tied laurel wreath, flanked to each side by a festive urn, the cylinder front centred by an inlaid landscape of figures by a canal with houses within a shaped border, on a parquetry ground and flanked to each side by ribbon-tied trophies, above a frieze drawer inlaid to the front with three landscape panels, and with a foliate panel to each side, the interior with three hinged panels, the centre inlaid with musical trophies and a draped urn flanking each side, the interiors each lined with velvet, the left hand with a compartmented interior with a parcel-gilt glass cup and saucer, a glass and stoppered bottle, the centre with a mirror, the bombe sides each with a twin-handled urn on pedestal with oval ivory portrait medallion within foliate festoons, the back also of bombe shape centred by musical trophies, with ribbon-tied foliage flanking, on cabriole legs, headed by grotesque masks with acanthus and claw sabots,late 19th Century

33in. (84cm.) wide; 41in. (104cm.) high; 20½in. (52cm.) deep

Lot Essay

A bureau, reputed to have belonged to Marie Antoinette and acquired by Mr. John Jones (d. 1882) for his Piccadilly mansion around 1870, provided the prototype for fine replicas manufactured at this period by paul Sormani (d. 1877) of rue Charlot, who was one of the principal exhibitors at the 1867 Paris Exhibition (see O. Brackett, Catalogue of the Jones Collection - Victorai & Albert Museum, London 1922, No. 48). One of Sormani's bureaux of this pattern was sold at Sotheby's London, 6 November 1992, Lot 148.
The Parisian firm of Sormani was founded in 1847 by Paul Sormani (d. 1877). They prouduced furniture of the highest quality and exhibited at the International exhibitions between 1849 and 1867.

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