BY GUILLAUME KEMP, CIRCA 1775

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND FRUITWOOD PARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE
BY GUILLAUME KEMP, CIRCA 1775
Inlaid overall with trellis and flowerhead parquetry, the pierced three-quarter gallery above a fitted writing-drawer and two further drawers, on guttae-headed square tapering legs, indistinctly stamped 'G. KEMP' and 'JME'
28 ½ in. (72 cm.) high; 17 ½ in. (44.5 cm.) wide; 13 ¼ in. (33.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Acquired by the grandparents of the current owner in the late 1950s.

Special notice

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Brought to you by

Benedict Winter

bwinter@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2203

Lot Essay

Guillaume Kemp, maître in 1764.

With its floral trellis parquetry, husk trails and overall form, this table closely relates to a number of similar tables executed by Guillaume Kemp. These include a stamped example with near identical mounts and very similar trellis and rosette pattern inlay, which was sold from a Private European Collection, Christie's, London, 17 June 2009, lot 16 (£31,250, including premium); and another formerly in the Alexander Collection, which was attibuted to Kemp, sold Christie's, London, 6 December 2012, lot 34 (£31,250, including premium). Other examples include that illustrated in Connaissance des Arts, 1956, p. 54, fig. F, as well as another sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 15 July 1955, lot 159. This pattern of parquetry was by no means exclusive to Kemp, however, and shares much in common with the oeuvres of both Roger van der Cruse, dit Lacroix / RVLC (maître in 1749) and Godefroy Dester (maître in 1774), who stamped the closely related table sold by the 6th Earl of Rosebery from Mentmore Towers, Sotheby's house sale, 18-20 May 1977, lot 441.

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