AFTER THE MODEL BY JEAN-HENRI RIESENER, BY HENRY DASSON, PARIS, DATED 1880

This console desserte is inspired by Jean-Henri Riesener's production of the 1780s. Smaller versions measuring approximately 47 in. wide are also recorded by Henry Dasson and Maison Krieger (Christie's, New York, 27 October 1998, lot 448 and Christie's, London, 29 September 2005, lot 164 respectively). Also compare a 19th century console after Riesener in the Frick Collection, New York (Accession No. 1916.5.73).

Henry Dasson (1825-1896) is recorded as having worked in Paris at 106, rue Vieille-du-Temple and specialised in the production of works from the Garde Meuble National. In 1871, Dasson bought the workshop and stock for 14,000 francs from the widow of the ébéniste Charles-Guillaume Winckelsen. Wasting no time in building upon the expertise of such a well-established firm, Dasson quickly became renowned for producing furniture and objets d'art of the very highest quality and became particularly distinguished for the fine quality of his ormolu mounts. Dasson was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1883 and was awarded the Grand Prix Artistique at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. The business continued until 1894, when a sale of remaining stock was held (see D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIXeSiècle, Paris, 1984, pp. 146-151).