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Lot Essay
Bernard II van Risen Burgh, called ‘BVRB’, maître circa 1730.
With its chamfered slender cabriole legs and the finely-chased foliate mounts adorning its frieze, this elegant table is characteristic of the oeuvre of Bernard II Van Risen Burgh ('BVRB') and is closely related to the example depicted in the 1756 portrait of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher (formerly in the Collection of Baron Maurice de Rothschild and now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich). The latter table is recorded in the catalogue of the sale of Boucher's estate in 1771: '1006 - Un vide-poche, fait par Bernard, il est en bois de rose et amarante, le dessus de bois de violette entouré d'un quart de rond, chute, sabots et ornements de bronze doré. Hauteur 25 pouces, longeur 15 pouces 6 lignes, largeur 10 pouces 9 lignes.'
This celebrated model belongs to a group of almost identical tables, all stamped by, or attributed to BVRB, which display minor differences in the shape of the apron, the design of the ormolu mounts or the marquetry. It is likely that this group of small tables was supplied through the intervention of a marchand-mercier such as Lazare Duvaux, who is known to have delivered furniture by BVRB to Madame de Pompadour (F.J.B. Watson, The Antique Collector, December 1960, p. 227). Indeed, on 27 January 1750 Lazare Duvaux sold to Madame Rouillé ‘une petite table à la Pompadour, avec ses cornets en bois satiné a fleurs, 72 livres’ (Livre-Journal, no. 432), which could well have represented a table of this model made fashionable by and named after the King’s favourite.
This group can be subdivided into two categories. The first, with a fixed top, is typically fitted with at least one writing-surface, and the side drawer is fitted with an inkwell. This type of table was only ever used for writing and an example of this type is recorded in an inventory of Madame de Pompadour's château de Saint-Hubert: 'Une table à écrire en bois de rose et fleurs de bois de violette ayant par devant un tablette à coulisse couverte de maroquin noir, à droit un tiroir à clef garni d'encrier, poudrier et boite d'éponge.'
The second group, which includes the present example, is typically fitted with a hinged top enclosing various compartments, and a small fitted drawer to the side. The model of table was used by ladies for arranging ribbons and toiletries.
Although the top of this table is of fan parquetry rather than bois-de-bout floral marquetry, in both the profile and the distinctive ormolu mounts this table is almost identical to the table en chiffonnière shown in Boucher’s 1756 portrait of Madame de Pompadour. Tables by BVRB of this model with the more restrained but nevertheless beautiful inlay and of a smaller size than the Boucher example appear to be extremely rare and include just two further known examples:
- A table stamped by BVRB in the Wrightsmann Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (given in 1984; F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsmann Collection, New York, 1966, vol. I, p. 257, no. 127).
- A table stamped by BVRB previously in the collection of M. et Mme. Henry Viguier, sold Ader, Picard, Ader, Palais Galliera, Paris, 21 March 1968, lot 94 (and illustrated J.P. Baroli, ‘Le Mystérieux B.V.R.B. enfin identifié’, Connaissance des Arts, March 1957, p. 63, no. 61).
Two larger versions of this table with the same fan parquetry top and stamped by BVRB were in the Dubernet-Douine Collection, sold Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 11-12 April 1946, lot 67 and subsequently in the Collection of Hubert de Saint-Senoch at Pavillon de Bidaine, Provence, sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 6 December 1983, lots 294 (FF 788,100) and 295 (FF 666,000); although the latter table was of the first form described above, with writing slide to the front and side just beneath the fixed top. A further stamped table with lozenge-pattern parquetry to the top, lacking its original undertier and of the larger size was formerly in the collection of Mme Henry Farman, sold Mes Ader, Picard & Tajan, Palais Galliera, Paris, 15 March 1973, lot 126 (FF 145,000), and subsequently anonymously at Christie’s, Paris, 13 December 2006, lot 246 (€84,000).
PAUL DUTASTA
This table was previously owned by Paul Eugène Dutasta (1873-1926), French statesman and politician, whose extensive and important collection was sold in Paris in June 1926. Dutasta held the position of French Ambassador in Switzerland between 1918 and 1920 and was elected ‘Secrétaire Général de la Conférence de la Paix’ in Paris after the war in 1919. He acted as representative of the Swiss authorities to Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and the Allied Powers, and participated in the negotiations which led to the drafting of article 435 of the Treaty of Versailles, which acknowledged the neutrality of Switzerland.
With its chamfered slender cabriole legs and the finely-chased foliate mounts adorning its frieze, this elegant table is characteristic of the oeuvre of Bernard II Van Risen Burgh ('BVRB') and is closely related to the example depicted in the 1756 portrait of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher (formerly in the Collection of Baron Maurice de Rothschild and now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich). The latter table is recorded in the catalogue of the sale of Boucher's estate in 1771: '1006 - Un vide-poche, fait par Bernard, il est en bois de rose et amarante, le dessus de bois de violette entouré d'un quart de rond, chute, sabots et ornements de bronze doré. Hauteur 25 pouces, longeur 15 pouces 6 lignes, largeur 10 pouces 9 lignes.'
This celebrated model belongs to a group of almost identical tables, all stamped by, or attributed to BVRB, which display minor differences in the shape of the apron, the design of the ormolu mounts or the marquetry. It is likely that this group of small tables was supplied through the intervention of a marchand-mercier such as Lazare Duvaux, who is known to have delivered furniture by BVRB to Madame de Pompadour (F.J.B. Watson, The Antique Collector, December 1960, p. 227). Indeed, on 27 January 1750 Lazare Duvaux sold to Madame Rouillé ‘une petite table à la Pompadour, avec ses cornets en bois satiné a fleurs, 72 livres’ (Livre-Journal, no. 432), which could well have represented a table of this model made fashionable by and named after the King’s favourite.
This group can be subdivided into two categories. The first, with a fixed top, is typically fitted with at least one writing-surface, and the side drawer is fitted with an inkwell. This type of table was only ever used for writing and an example of this type is recorded in an inventory of Madame de Pompadour's château de Saint-Hubert: 'Une table à écrire en bois de rose et fleurs de bois de violette ayant par devant un tablette à coulisse couverte de maroquin noir, à droit un tiroir à clef garni d'encrier, poudrier et boite d'éponge.'
The second group, which includes the present example, is typically fitted with a hinged top enclosing various compartments, and a small fitted drawer to the side. The model of table was used by ladies for arranging ribbons and toiletries.
Although the top of this table is of fan parquetry rather than bois-de-bout floral marquetry, in both the profile and the distinctive ormolu mounts this table is almost identical to the table en chiffonnière shown in Boucher’s 1756 portrait of Madame de Pompadour. Tables by BVRB of this model with the more restrained but nevertheless beautiful inlay and of a smaller size than the Boucher example appear to be extremely rare and include just two further known examples:
- A table stamped by BVRB in the Wrightsmann Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (given in 1984; F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsmann Collection, New York, 1966, vol. I, p. 257, no. 127).
- A table stamped by BVRB previously in the collection of M. et Mme. Henry Viguier, sold Ader, Picard, Ader, Palais Galliera, Paris, 21 March 1968, lot 94 (and illustrated J.P. Baroli, ‘Le Mystérieux B.V.R.B. enfin identifié’, Connaissance des Arts, March 1957, p. 63, no. 61).
Two larger versions of this table with the same fan parquetry top and stamped by BVRB were in the Dubernet-Douine Collection, sold Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 11-12 April 1946, lot 67 and subsequently in the Collection of Hubert de Saint-Senoch at Pavillon de Bidaine, Provence, sold Sotheby’s Monaco, 6 December 1983, lots 294 (FF 788,100) and 295 (FF 666,000); although the latter table was of the first form described above, with writing slide to the front and side just beneath the fixed top. A further stamped table with lozenge-pattern parquetry to the top, lacking its original undertier and of the larger size was formerly in the collection of Mme Henry Farman, sold Mes Ader, Picard & Tajan, Palais Galliera, Paris, 15 March 1973, lot 126 (FF 145,000), and subsequently anonymously at Christie’s, Paris, 13 December 2006, lot 246 (€84,000).
PAUL DUTASTA
This table was previously owned by Paul Eugène Dutasta (1873-1926), French statesman and politician, whose extensive and important collection was sold in Paris in June 1926. Dutasta held the position of French Ambassador in Switzerland between 1918 and 1920 and was elected ‘Secrétaire Général de la Conférence de la Paix’ in Paris after the war in 1919. He acted as representative of the Swiss authorities to Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and the Allied Powers, and participated in the negotiations which led to the drafting of article 435 of the Treaty of Versailles, which acknowledged the neutrality of Switzerland.