VIENNA, CIRCA 1700

Like its Bourbon counterpart in Versailles, the Habsburg court in Vienna highly prized Boulle work for its inventiveness and use of exotic materials. Although conceived in France, Boulle type marquetry was admired and sought-after throughout Europe and quickly became one of the most iconic trends one associates with the art of furniture making during the Baroque. Besides France, masterful Boulle work was created in Antwerp and at the workshops of courts such as Augsburg, Munich and Vienna, where it was manufactured by Flemish and German craftsmen. In the Holy Roman Empire the designs conceived by Jean Bérain and Daniel Marot were adapted and disseminated by a small number of local artists, such as Paul Decker the elder (1677-1713), who created a distinctly Germanic version of the arabesque style that was more lush and foliate-based than its French counterpart. Decker’s work was particularly influential in the Southern part of the Empire.
One of the largest documented commissions of Boulle work produced in Vienna was that mentioned by Marie Christine, Princess of Salm (1655-1744) in letters to Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640-1705), in 1697 and 1698. This group included torchères, mirrors, and other furnishings that were gifted to Ludwig Otto, Prince of Salm (1674-1738) by either Joseph I or his father Leopold I, after the former’s coronation as King of the Romans in 1690. It is also possible that the pieces in this group were given by Leopold I to his son who in turn presented them as gifts to his tutor, the Prince of Salm, who used them in the decoration of his newly-refurbished residence in Anholt. Inventories suggest that by 1700 the group was expanded and further pieces with Boulle marquetry decoration produced in Viennese workshops were added. In his book entitled Boulle Möbel der Fürsten Salm, A.W. Vliegenhart draws a clear connection between the pieces in the Salm collection and those preserved at the Hofburg and other aristocratic collections in Austria, such as the Harach collection at Schloss Rohrau, that have long been considered to be of Viennese manufacture, see H. Kreisel, Die Kunst des Deutschen Möbels, Munich, 1970, vol I, pp. 146-155. For a detailed discussion presenting the similarities between the works in the Salm collection and Viennese examples, see A.W. Vliegenhart, Boulle Möbel der Fürsten Salm, Rhede, 1995.
The present cabinet-on-stand shares many similarities with the works cited by Vliegenhart. These include the lack of ormolu mounts, which is a common feature of Viennese and South German Boulle marquetry furniture, the giltwood feet and capitals of the legs, the straight lines of the upper section and the legs, the restrained use or lack of figures in the inlay whose design consists predominantly of arabesques and various floral patterns, and the use of pewter. The giltwood bun feet carved with acanthus on this cabinet are very similar to those found on a games table and a desk in the Salm collection and a desk in the Imperial collection in Vienna, see ibid., nos. 9, 16, and 17, respectively. Constructed of softwood and oak, and having walnut drawers, the present cabinet also shares similarities in construction and primary timber with the above pieces manufactured in Vienna. The lower section of a brass, pewter and tortoiseshell-inlaid Boulle marquetry cabinet-on-stand now preserved in the Leopoldine wing of the Hofburg is fitted with a very similar stretcher and back plate as the present lot. (Inv. n. MD 036278). According to Vliegenhart, the undulating lines and broken volutes of the backplate of the Hofburg cabinet exhibit a clear similarity with the cresting of a première partie mirror in the Salm collection, the contre partie pair of which is in the Hofburg, further suggesting that those pieces are products of the same workshop – along with the cabinet in this sale. Another comparable example is a cabinet stand with similar back plate and stretcher sold Artcurial, Paris, 22 December 2020, lot 3. Interestingly, the Boulle marquetry of the Vienna and Anholt examples contain tortoiseshell, whereas the present cabinet’s decoration consists of ebony, pewter and brass veneer. By omitting tortoiseshell from the inlay, the makers of this piece achieved a distinctly non-French aesthetic with the contrasting brass and ebony recalling the traditional Habsburg colors of gold and black. Viennese Boulle marquetry furniture of this quality seldom appear on the market with one of the more recent examples being a pair of torchères sold Christie’s, New York, 19 October 2007, lot 226 ($289,000).
The château de La Roche Guyon, situated along the Seine between Mantes and Vernon, is the medieval ancestral home of the de la Rochefoucauld family, one of the oldest noble families of France. In the 1700s the castle underwent three major periods of development and three main furnishing campaigns: One during the reign of Louis XIV, when furnishings were acquired by François VIII, 4th duke de la Rochefoucauld (1663-1728) and his wife Charlotte Le Tellier (1664-1735); another one in the Louis XV period during which Alexandre, 5th duke of la Rochefoucauld (1690-1762) commissioned new interiors between 1732-1735 that included the realization of the large apartments. At that time a new wing was added housing the salon and the new library, which was filled with newly-purchased books, maps and scientific instruments. The 1730s also saw the purchase of paintings by Boucher, Vanloo and Trémolière. The last phase of redecorating in the eighteenth century happened in the 1760s when the neoclassical decoration of the grand salon was commissioned by the duchesse d’Enville (1716-1797).