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Lot Essay
NICOLAS SAGEOT
With its striking première-partie inlay and distinct gilt-bronze mounts, this commode bears many of the hallmarks of works by the celebrated early-18th century cabinet maker, Nicolas Sageot (maître in 1706). Sageot was one of the few early 18th-century ébénistes who stamped his work and examples of his oeuvre are in the Swedish Royal Collection, including an armoire, a pair of cabinets and a bureau mazarin (P. Grand, 'Le Mobilier Boulle et les Ateliers de l'Epoque', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, February 1993, pp. 55-63), as well as the Wallace Collection, London, which includes a closely related commode (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. II, pp. 638-43, 137).
A MEDICI PROVENANCE?
The commode is veneered in striking marquetry in brass and sumptuous tortoiseshell in patterns based on designs by Jean I Berain (1640-1711) and typical of the oeuvre of Sagot; however, the centre of the top bears the coat-of-arms of one of the most prominent Italian families, that of the House of Medici. While there were several dynastic links between the Medicis and the French court it is more likely that the arms were added by a subsequent owner in the 18th or very early 19th century.
With its striking première-partie inlay and distinct gilt-bronze mounts, this commode bears many of the hallmarks of works by the celebrated early-18th century cabinet maker, Nicolas Sageot (maître in 1706). Sageot was one of the few early 18th-century ébénistes who stamped his work and examples of his oeuvre are in the Swedish Royal Collection, including an armoire, a pair of cabinets and a bureau mazarin (P. Grand, 'Le Mobilier Boulle et les Ateliers de l'Epoque', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, February 1993, pp. 55-63), as well as the Wallace Collection, London, which includes a closely related commode (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. II, pp. 638-43, 137).
A MEDICI PROVENANCE?
The commode is veneered in striking marquetry in brass and sumptuous tortoiseshell in patterns based on designs by Jean I Berain (1640-1711) and typical of the oeuvre of Sagot; however, the centre of the top bears the coat-of-arms of one of the most prominent Italian families, that of the House of Medici. While there were several dynastic links between the Medicis and the French court it is more likely that the arms were added by a subsequent owner in the 18th or very early 19th century.