A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY, SYCAMORE AND PARQUETRY SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT ON STAND

CIRCA 1780 - 1790, ATTRIBUTED TO JEAN-HENRI RIESENER

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY, SYCAMORE AND PARQUETRY SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT ON STAND
CIRCA 1780 - 1790, ATTRIBUTED TO JEAN-HENRI RIESENER
Inlaid overall with trellis pattern, the later bleu turquin marble top above a single frieze-drawer and fall-front enclosing a fitted interior with a leather-lined writing-surface and four larger drawers above six smaller drawers, one later fitted, and a larger drawer with a hidden well, on inlaid octagonal tapering legs with fruiting acanthus caps and feet, joined by a conforming undertier, escutcheon associated, mounts regilt
50¼ in. (127.5 cm.) high, 30¾ in. (78 cm.) wide, 15½ in. (39 cm.) deep

Lot Essay

This secrétaire à abattant with its delicate shaded trellis parquetry and ormolu banding is typical of Jean-Henri Riesener's oeuvre. Riesener, maître in 1768, supplied various commodes and related furniture with these features to the French Royal court, including a breakfront commode with husk-trailed frieze-mount that was in the garde-meuble of Queen Marie-Antoinette for the Trianon before 1789 (P. Arizzoli-Clémentel, Versailles Furniture of the Royal Palace, Dijon, 2002, vol. II, cat. 53, pp. 152 - 153) and a suite including a commode and a bedside table to Versailles, which are now at the Louvre (D. Alcouffe, et al., Furniture Collections in the Louvre, Dijon, 1993, cats. 93 - 94, pp. 280 - 282). The octagonal tapering legs on the other hand are found on a writing-table that is depicted next to Jean-Henri Riesener in a painting by Antoine Vestier (1785, at Versailles, Musée National du Château).

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