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Lot Essay
This impressive à l'antique cabinet can be attributed to the Swiss-born ébéniste Jean-Jacques Werner (1791-1849) on the basis of its close similarity to a secretaire and matching side cabinet, executed circa 1820 by Werner also in burr elm (illustrated J. Leris-Laffargue, Le Mobilier Français and Restauration Louis-Philippe, Paris, pp. 42-3). These feature the same fasces bound with ormolu ribbons surmounted by helmets and terminating in axes, and were recorded in 1844 in the apartment of the Governor of the Invalides. The secretaire is now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris.
Werner was one of the most important ébénistes of the Restauration period and made a particular speciality of using indigenous French woods, which were particularly in demand after the blockades at the end of the Napoleonic wars. He frequently used the rich effects of burr elm, as on this cabinet and the two matching pieces cited above. He also used burr elm on the celebrated cabinet made by him in 1819 with bronzes by Denière, eventually acquired by Charles X and now in the Grand Trianon. A further related pair of cabinets by Werner was sold from the collection of Garrick Stephenson, Christie's, New York, 29 October 1993, lot 158 ($190,000 exc. premium).
Werner was one of the most important ébénistes of the Restauration period and made a particular speciality of using indigenous French woods, which were particularly in demand after the blockades at the end of the Napoleonic wars. He frequently used the rich effects of burr elm, as on this cabinet and the two matching pieces cited above. He also used burr elm on the celebrated cabinet made by him in 1819 with bronzes by Denière, eventually acquired by Charles X and now in the Grand Trianon. A further related pair of cabinets by Werner was sold from the collection of Garrick Stephenson, Christie's, New York, 29 October 1993, lot 158 ($190,000 exc. premium).