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Lot Essay
The present stand is almost certainly that which accompanied the Louis XIV Boulle marquetry coffer sold at Christie’s, London, 20 June 1985, lot 60 (£68,000). Virtually identical figural supports feature on the stand to a sarcophagus coffer at Blenheim, bought from the sale of the Marquess of Exeter at Burghley in June 1888, lot 260, and prior to that from Peter Burrell, 1st Baron Gwydir at Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, sold in 1829 (P. Hughes, ‘Boulle at Blenheim’, Apollo, November 2005, pp. 34-36).
Another pair of Boulle marquetry stands with the same supports was formerly in the collection of Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1908) in ‘The Green Drawing Room’ at Devonshire House, as described in the 1892 Inventory: ‘A pair of 2 ft 5 buhl and tortoiseshell Side Tables, with carved gilt figure supports with drawer and shelf’, and later photographed in September 1919 in the same room by Country Life; the latter pair of tables remained in the Devonshire Collection and is now at Chatsworth, Derbyshire (J. Cornforth, London Interiors, London, 2000, p. 69; The Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth: the house, London, 2002, p. 88; G. Wilson, Baroque and Régence: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles, 2008, p. 64, f/n 5).
Finally, the figural supports featured on the present stand are closely related to those found on a pair of stands for the 17th century pietre dure cabinets from Castle Howard, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (illustrated The Furniture History Society Newsletter, February 2017, p. 11).
Another pair of Boulle marquetry stands with the same supports was formerly in the collection of Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire (d. 1908) in ‘The Green Drawing Room’ at Devonshire House, as described in the 1892 Inventory: ‘A pair of 2 ft 5 buhl and tortoiseshell Side Tables, with carved gilt figure supports with drawer and shelf’, and later photographed in September 1919 in the same room by Country Life; the latter pair of tables remained in the Devonshire Collection and is now at Chatsworth, Derbyshire (J. Cornforth, London Interiors, London, 2000, p. 69; The Duchess of Devonshire, Chatsworth: the house, London, 2002, p. 88; G. Wilson, Baroque and Régence: Catalogue of the J. Paul Getty Museum Collection, Los Angeles, 2008, p. 64, f/n 5).
Finally, the figural supports featured on the present stand are closely related to those found on a pair of stands for the 17th century pietre dure cabinets from Castle Howard, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (illustrated The Furniture History Society Newsletter, February 2017, p. 11).