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Lot Essay
This impressive bureau plat can trace its history back to the eighteenth-century collection of Charles-Henri II de Malon de Bercy at the celebrated château de Bercy. In both ornamentation and design, it bears all the hallmarks of the oeuvre of the celebrated ébéniste André–Charles Boulle (1642-1742), and is an important representative of a group of bureaux he conceived with central drawers designed en avant-corps.
THE HISTORY OF THE BUREAU AT THE CHATEAU DE BERCY
The inventory taken following the death of the marquis in 1742 records the present bureau in the grand cabinet on the first floor of the château: 'un bureau de bois d’amaranthe avec son serre-papier le tout garni de bronze doré d’or molu prisé ensemble 240 livres' (AN, MCN, CVIII 451, 8 February 1742). Upon the death of the marquis’s son, Nicolas-Charles de Malon, in 1790, another inventory was drawn up. Several bureaux are briefly mentioned in this inventory, although it is too imprecise to identify the exact location of the present bureau (AN, MCN, LXVIII 638, 7 April 1790).
BOULLE'S BUREAUX PLATS
This desk is one of a sizeable body of bureaux plats that can with confidence be attributed to the greatest ébéniste of the late 17th and early 18th Century, André-Charles Boulle. The original concept of the ‘bureau’ originated in Boulle’s workshop in the form of writing-tables with eight legs divided into two groups of four, each with a stretcher and side drawers. As the model evolved, drawers were placed to the front of the bureau and the number of legs reduced to four. This revised design can be divided into three basic groups. The first group, which is also probably the earliest, has six legs and derives from a Boulle design published by Mariette after 1707. Recorded examples include one formerly in the collection of the Earls of Ashburnham and sold by M. Hubert Givenchy, Christie's, Monaco, 4 December 1993, lot 68, and another sold from the collection of Randon de Boisset in 1777, currently in the collection of Vaux-le-Vicomte (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 77).
With its distinctive projecting frieze drawer and satyr-mounts heading the angles, the present bureau plat belongs to his second group. Among the well-known series of drawings attributed to Boulle at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris is a design, dated circa 1710, which correlates to the present model and features the same curved legs headed by bearded satyr's mask and central drawer en avant-corps fronted by a grinning mask (JN Ronfort, André-Charles Boulle, 1642-1732, A New Style for Europe, Paris, 2009, p. 329. fig, 66). The third and most prevalent group, which can be further sub-divided on the basis of its mounts, is distinguished by its recessed central drawer. Accomplished examples of this model include one in the Getty Museum (A. Pradère, op. cit., p. 78) and one in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, The Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, pp. 741-746, cat. 158).
RELATED BUREAUX
The closest parallel to the present bureau plat is one sold from the Jacques Doucet Collection, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 7-8 June 1912, lot 317. Virtually identical to the offered piece, both bureaux are adorned with mounts recognized as part of Boulle’s repertoire, such as the mask of the laughing philosopher Democritus to the central drawer, which is recorded in the inventory of Boulle’s possessions made up after his death in 1732. An additional model in amaranth and ebony was formerly in the collection of Sir Philip Sassoon, BT., and sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, ‘Works of Art from Houghton,’ Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 31. More prevalent are models inlaid in première and contre-partie marquetry; an example in première-partie is in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at Boughton House, Northamptonshire (illustrated in T. Murdoch et. al., Boughton House, The English Versailles, London, 1992, p. 122, fig. 113). An example in contre-partie was sold Sotheby's, Paris, 30 September 2011, lot 66 (€228,750), whilst a further contre-partie model was sold Christie’s, London, 6 July 2006, lot 200 (£209,600).
THE CHATEAU DE BERCY
The château de Bercy, situated on the banks of the Seine east of Paris, was built by François Le Vau for Charles-Henri I de Malon de Bercy in 1658. His son Charles-Henri II de Malon de Bercy (1678-1742) became superintendant des finances after marrying the daughter of the contrôleur général des finances in 1705. Immensely rich due to his position within the government, he commissioned the architect Jacques de la Guépière circa 1712-14 to complete the unfinished works on the château. Sculptors and designers from the Société pour les Bâtiments du Roi such as Jules Degoullons, André and Matthieu Legoupil, and Pierre Taupin were instrumental in modernizing the château's interiors and responsible for much of the carved panelling and related furniture. Due to the youthful age of the Malon de Bercy heirs, the château and its collections were not destroyed during the French Revolution. In 1809, Charles-Jean-François, the last of the Malon line died, and the château's contents were inherited by his nephew Marie Chrétien de Nicolaÿ, marquis de Bercy, né Nicolay. In 1847, a new railway connecting Paris to Lyon was built, cutting across the castle’s grounds. The castle itself, standing at the edge of the park, fell into disrepair and was demolished. In 1860, the contents of the château were sold in a celebrated auction, with much of the furniture and boiseries entering the collection of Empress Eugenie. The boiserie of the grand cabinet is now installed at Camden Place, Chislehurst.
THE HISTORY OF THE BUREAU AT THE CHATEAU DE BERCY
The inventory taken following the death of the marquis in 1742 records the present bureau in the grand cabinet on the first floor of the château: 'un bureau de bois d’amaranthe avec son serre-papier le tout garni de bronze doré d’or molu prisé ensemble 240 livres' (AN, MCN, CVIII 451, 8 February 1742). Upon the death of the marquis’s son, Nicolas-Charles de Malon, in 1790, another inventory was drawn up. Several bureaux are briefly mentioned in this inventory, although it is too imprecise to identify the exact location of the present bureau (AN, MCN, LXVIII 638, 7 April 1790).
BOULLE'S BUREAUX PLATS
This desk is one of a sizeable body of bureaux plats that can with confidence be attributed to the greatest ébéniste of the late 17th and early 18th Century, André-Charles Boulle. The original concept of the ‘bureau’ originated in Boulle’s workshop in the form of writing-tables with eight legs divided into two groups of four, each with a stretcher and side drawers. As the model evolved, drawers were placed to the front of the bureau and the number of legs reduced to four. This revised design can be divided into three basic groups. The first group, which is also probably the earliest, has six legs and derives from a Boulle design published by Mariette after 1707. Recorded examples include one formerly in the collection of the Earls of Ashburnham and sold by M. Hubert Givenchy, Christie's, Monaco, 4 December 1993, lot 68, and another sold from the collection of Randon de Boisset in 1777, currently in the collection of Vaux-le-Vicomte (A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 77).
With its distinctive projecting frieze drawer and satyr-mounts heading the angles, the present bureau plat belongs to his second group. Among the well-known series of drawings attributed to Boulle at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris is a design, dated circa 1710, which correlates to the present model and features the same curved legs headed by bearded satyr's mask and central drawer en avant-corps fronted by a grinning mask (JN Ronfort, André-Charles Boulle, 1642-1732, A New Style for Europe, Paris, 2009, p. 329. fig, 66). The third and most prevalent group, which can be further sub-divided on the basis of its mounts, is distinguished by its recessed central drawer. Accomplished examples of this model include one in the Getty Museum (A. Pradère, op. cit., p. 78) and one in the Wallace Collection (F.J.B. Watson, The Wallace Collection Catalogues: Furniture, London, 1956, pp. 741-746, cat. 158).
RELATED BUREAUX
The closest parallel to the present bureau plat is one sold from the Jacques Doucet Collection, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 7-8 June 1912, lot 317. Virtually identical to the offered piece, both bureaux are adorned with mounts recognized as part of Boulle’s repertoire, such as the mask of the laughing philosopher Democritus to the central drawer, which is recorded in the inventory of Boulle’s possessions made up after his death in 1732. An additional model in amaranth and ebony was formerly in the collection of Sir Philip Sassoon, BT., and sold by the Marquess of Cholmondeley, ‘Works of Art from Houghton,’ Christie’s, London, 8 December 1994, lot 31. More prevalent are models inlaid in première and contre-partie marquetry; an example in première-partie is in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at Boughton House, Northamptonshire (illustrated in T. Murdoch et. al., Boughton House, The English Versailles, London, 1992, p. 122, fig. 113). An example in contre-partie was sold Sotheby's, Paris, 30 September 2011, lot 66 (€228,750), whilst a further contre-partie model was sold Christie’s, London, 6 July 2006, lot 200 (£209,600).
THE CHATEAU DE BERCY
The château de Bercy, situated on the banks of the Seine east of Paris, was built by François Le Vau for Charles-Henri I de Malon de Bercy in 1658. His son Charles-Henri II de Malon de Bercy (1678-1742) became superintendant des finances after marrying the daughter of the contrôleur général des finances in 1705. Immensely rich due to his position within the government, he commissioned the architect Jacques de la Guépière circa 1712-14 to complete the unfinished works on the château. Sculptors and designers from the Société pour les Bâtiments du Roi such as Jules Degoullons, André and Matthieu Legoupil, and Pierre Taupin were instrumental in modernizing the château's interiors and responsible for much of the carved panelling and related furniture. Due to the youthful age of the Malon de Bercy heirs, the château and its collections were not destroyed during the French Revolution. In 1809, Charles-Jean-François, the last of the Malon line died, and the château's contents were inherited by his nephew Marie Chrétien de Nicolaÿ, marquis de Bercy, né Nicolay. In 1847, a new railway connecting Paris to Lyon was built, cutting across the castle’s grounds. The castle itself, standing at the edge of the park, fell into disrepair and was demolished. In 1860, the contents of the château were sold in a celebrated auction, with much of the furniture and boiseries entering the collection of Empress Eugenie. The boiserie of the grand cabinet is now installed at Camden Place, Chislehurst.