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Lot Essay
J.H. Enderlin, appointed Horloger de la Cour 1715-23, died before 1753.
The use of the JME stamp on the cartonnier means that this was either made or resold after 1743, when the Jurande des maître-éb-énistes was established.
BOULLE'S BUREAUX PLATS
First conceived in 1684 by Furretière as 'une table garnie de
quelque tiroirs ou tablettes ou les gens d'affaires ou d'étude écrivent et mettent leurs papiers,' the bureaux plats of André-Charles Boulle began to appear circa 1710. The first recorded bureau plat is that listed in the inventory of the grand marchand Paul Verani in 1713. By 1720 Boulle's workshops were engaged in producing several bureaux plats - interestingly all of which appear to be between five and six pieds or 160 to 195 cm.
The list of items destroyed in the fire in Boulle's workshop in 1720 records:-
'(Ouvrages de Commande Brûlé et Péris) cinq bureaux de cinq à six pieds de long de marqueterie d'écaille de tortue et de cuivre, et deux de bois de couleur très avancés (Ouvrages qui ne sont Point de Commande, Brûlé et Péris) douze bureaux de six pieds de long plus ou moins avancés
(Ouvrages Sauvés Appartenant au duc de Bourbon) un bureau de six pieds de long couvert en maroquini'
The duc de Bourbon's example, representing the culmination of the bureau Boulle also originally with a Cartonnier, is now conserved in the château de Versailles, having been seized at Chantilly during the Revolution.
THE DESIGN
The Wildenstein bureau plat is closely related to two designs:- one, in red chalk and now in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, is inscribed Oppenordt, while the other, alternatively attributed to either Boulle or Oppenordt, is in the musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. As T. Dell concludes in The Frick Collection,V,Furniture, New York, 1992, p.208.
TETE DE FEMMES BUREAUX PLATS
This bureau plat belongs to the celebrated group executed in the Boulle workshops between 1710-25, all of identical form but with distinct variations in the design of the angle mounts. Those with satyr-mask angles include a pair of bureau plats in the Wallace Collection (F427), another in the Getty Museum (85.DA.23) and a further example in the Frick Collection (see A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, London, 1989, p. 102, nos. 78-85 for the complete list). Those with female-mask angles are listed below:
For a complete list of the recorded Boulle têtes de femmes bureaux plats see lot 15. Of the fourteen recorded examples, the only ones with cartonniers comprise:-
EN PREMIÈRE PARTIE
- that delivered with a cartonnier to the duc de Bourbon at Chantilly by Boulle in 1720; now at the château de Versailles.
- that delivered to Machault d'Arnouville circa 1719, together with a cartonnier; subsequently inherited by the marquis de Vogué, it was sold from the estate of Wendell Cherry at Sotheby's New York, 20 May 1994, lot 80.
- the Wildenstein Foulc example offered here.
EN CONTRE-PARTIE
- that with cartonnier surmounted by a clock with a sleeping figure of time, sold in Paris, 23 May 1924, lot 133.
The foliate trefoil and lambrequin marquetry pattern of the frieze of the cartonnier is directly inspired by that of Boulle's bas d'armoire which featured in Mariette's folio of engraved designs by Boulle, 1707-30. Although the folio only contained eight plates, the copy belonging to Baron Pichon contained two addditional plates - including that relevant to this cartonnier - which are now in the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p.73, fig.18).
THE ENDERLIN DYNASTY
The Enderlin dynasty of clockmakers flourished in Basel from the second half of the 17th century until the middle of the eighteenth century. The movement of this clock was designed and made by J. Henri Enderlin (d. 1753), a native of Basel who moved to Paris certainly by 1715 when he was appointed Horloger de la Cour 1715-23 under the Regency he settled in the Enclos of the abbaye of Saint-Germaine-des-Prés. Enderlin, who contributed an essay on the irregularities of pendulums for Antoine Thiout (maître in 1724), was certainly renowned for his technical sophistication, and indeed Henry Sully (d. 1728), the favourite of the Regent le duc d'Orléans who was appointed by his patron as director of the Manufacture l'Horlogerie he hoped to establish at Versailles, signed his celebrated marine chronometer 'Enderlin de Bâle, faite en 1724, par Monsieur Sully'. Another client of Enderlin's was M. Bonnier de la Mosson, who was also a client of Boulle's (see lot 20).
This same horloger signed and dated - Enderlin Basiliensis Invenit & Fecit 1731 - the elaborate dial and movement of the Alscot Boulle marquetry astronomical regulateur attributed to Jean-Pierre Latz, sold by the Alscot Fund, Christie's London, 10 June 1993, lot 41.
The use of the JME stamp on the cartonnier means that this was either made or resold after 1743, when the Jurande des maître-éb-énistes was established.
BOULLE'S BUREAUX PLATS
First conceived in 1684 by Furretière as 'une table garnie de
quelque tiroirs ou tablettes ou les gens d'affaires ou d'étude écrivent et mettent leurs papiers,' the bureaux plats of André-Charles Boulle began to appear circa 1710. The first recorded bureau plat is that listed in the inventory of the grand marchand Paul Verani in 1713. By 1720 Boulle's workshops were engaged in producing several bureaux plats - interestingly all of which appear to be between five and six pieds or 160 to 195 cm.
The list of items destroyed in the fire in Boulle's workshop in 1720 records:-
'(Ouvrages de Commande Brûlé et Péris) cinq bureaux de cinq à six pieds de long de marqueterie d'écaille de tortue et de cuivre, et deux de bois de couleur très avancés (Ouvrages qui ne sont Point de Commande, Brûlé et Péris) douze bureaux de six pieds de long plus ou moins avancés
(Ouvrages Sauvés Appartenant au duc de Bourbon) un bureau de six pieds de long couvert en maroquini'
The duc de Bourbon's example, representing the culmination of the bureau Boulle also originally with a Cartonnier, is now conserved in the château de Versailles, having been seized at Chantilly during the Revolution.
THE DESIGN
The Wildenstein bureau plat is closely related to two designs:- one, in red chalk and now in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum, is inscribed Oppenordt, while the other, alternatively attributed to either Boulle or Oppenordt, is in the musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. As T. Dell concludes in The Frick Collection,V,Furniture, New York, 1992, p.208.
TETE DE FEMMES BUREAUX PLATS
This bureau plat belongs to the celebrated group executed in the Boulle workshops between 1710-25, all of identical form but with distinct variations in the design of the angle mounts. Those with satyr-mask angles include a pair of bureau plats in the Wallace Collection (F427), another in the Getty Museum (85.DA.23) and a further example in the Frick Collection (see A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, London, 1989, p. 102, nos. 78-85 for the complete list). Those with female-mask angles are listed below:
For a complete list of the recorded Boulle têtes de femmes bureaux plats see lot 15. Of the fourteen recorded examples, the only ones with cartonniers comprise:-
EN PREMIÈRE PARTIE
- that delivered with a cartonnier to the duc de Bourbon at Chantilly by Boulle in 1720; now at the château de Versailles.
- that delivered to Machault d'Arnouville circa 1719, together with a cartonnier; subsequently inherited by the marquis de Vogué, it was sold from the estate of Wendell Cherry at Sotheby's New York, 20 May 1994, lot 80.
- the Wildenstein Foulc example offered here.
EN CONTRE-PARTIE
- that with cartonnier surmounted by a clock with a sleeping figure of time, sold in Paris, 23 May 1924, lot 133.
The foliate trefoil and lambrequin marquetry pattern of the frieze of the cartonnier is directly inspired by that of Boulle's bas d'armoire which featured in Mariette's folio of engraved designs by Boulle, 1707-30. Although the folio only contained eight plates, the copy belonging to Baron Pichon contained two addditional plates - including that relevant to this cartonnier - which are now in the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p.73, fig.18).
THE ENDERLIN DYNASTY
The Enderlin dynasty of clockmakers flourished in Basel from the second half of the 17th century until the middle of the eighteenth century. The movement of this clock was designed and made by J. Henri Enderlin (d. 1753), a native of Basel who moved to Paris certainly by 1715 when he was appointed Horloger de la Cour 1715-23 under the Regency he settled in the Enclos of the abbaye of Saint-Germaine-des-Prés. Enderlin, who contributed an essay on the irregularities of pendulums for Antoine Thiout (maître in 1724), was certainly renowned for his technical sophistication, and indeed Henry Sully (d. 1728), the favourite of the Regent le duc d'Orléans who was appointed by his patron as director of the Manufacture l'Horlogerie he hoped to establish at Versailles, signed his celebrated marine chronometer 'Enderlin de Bâle, faite en 1724, par Monsieur Sully'. Another client of Enderlin's was M. Bonnier de la Mosson, who was also a client of Boulle's (see lot 20).
This same horloger signed and dated - Enderlin Basiliensis Invenit & Fecit 1731 - the elaborate dial and movement of the Alscot Boulle marquetry astronomical regulateur attributed to Jean-Pierre Latz, sold by the Alscot Fund, Christie's London, 10 June 1993, lot 41.