Lot Essay
Embellished with Louis XIV style marquetry popularised by Jean Bérain (1640-1711), who succeeded as dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi in 1674, this mirror relates to an engraved design for a toilet-mirror after André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732). (A.-C. Boulle, Nouveaux Dessins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronze et de Marqueterie, n.d., pl. 5). A similar mirror, attributed to Boulle and inlaid in première partie, supplied by the marchand-mercier Alexis Delarue to the duchesse de Berry at Versailles in 1713, is in the Wallace Collection (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. II, cat. no. 151 (F50)).