CIRCA 1830-40, AFTER THE DESIGN BY ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE

Started by Simon Patiño, the founder of the Bolivian tin fortune, the Patiño Collection was greatly extended by his son Antenor (d. 1982). In contrast to the taste for Louis XVI of other great 19th-century French furniture collectors, the Patiños concentrated on the finest pieces from the Régence and early Louis XV periods, forming a legendary collection of menuiserie, lavish bronzes d'ameublement and, in particular, Japanese lacquer and Vernis Martin-embellished furniture, perhaps the most celebrated being the scarlet lacquer pieces, including the armoire by BVRB that had belonged to Mlle. de Choiseul, presented to the château de Versailles by Antenor Patiño.