MID-18TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY WÜRTTEMBERG OR HESSEN

Details

A SOUTH GERMAN WALNUT AND MARQUETRY BUREAU-CABINET
Mid-18th Century, possibly Württemberg or Hessen
Inlaid overall with geometric banding and scrolling foliage, the shaped cresting inlaid with two deer, above a serpentine upper section with twelve variously-shaped drawers flanking a central bowed door, enclosing a plain interior lined with contemporary embossed floral paper, above the bureau-section with a sloping fall-front depicting a hunting scene, enclosing a fitted interior with twelve various-sized drawers, above an inverted door inlaid with a parrot sitting in a tree, flanked by eight drawers, each side with a parrot in a medallion, on a shaped moulded plinth, the back inscribed 'F.M H 52 Bern' and 'F.M./H53/Bern', the underside of top section inscribed 'F M 59', on drawer inscribed 'Cobini Guilietto Boulone', with a paper label inscribed' G.P. MERCI VISITARE/70072', replacements to the cresting
95 in. (241 cm.) high; 54 in. (137 cm.) wide; 26¼ in. (66.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

By repute from the collection of count Charles Frederic de Pourtales, circa 1795.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

The distinctive inlaid parrots to the front and sides are very similar to those on a bureau-secretaire from Kirchheim unter Teck (now Württemberg), circa 1720/30 (illustrated in Stuttgart, Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Barockmöbel aus Württemberg and Hohenlohe 1700-1750, 1985, no. 1, p. 28-29). In shape the here offered lot relates closely to a pewter-inlaid bureau-secretaire from Württemberg, circa 1740 (ibid, no. 5, p. 44-43). However, H. Kreisel illustrates another bureau-secretaire from Hessen, circa 1743, which has a very similar upper and middle section, and is also inlaid with parrots and other birds (Die Kunst des Deutschen Möbels, Munich 1970, vol. II, fig. 650).

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