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Lot Essay
Mathieu Befort, dit Befort Jeune, was the son of Jean-Baptiste Befort (d. 1840), who established his Paris workshops in 1817 in the Faubourg Saint-Honoré. He was a brother of Bernard Befort, ébéniste-marqueteur and 'antiquaire'. The firm, which specialized in 'furniture in the style of Boulle and in the use of bronze and hardstone' (D. Ledoux-Lebard, Le mobilier français du XIXe siècle , Paris, 1965, p. 29), received a medal at the 1844 Exposition des produits de l'industrie français. Befort Jeune was recorded at Neuves-Saint-Gilles from 1844 until 1880.
An identical bureau by Befort Jeune is illustrated in A. Massinelli, The Gilbert Collection: Hardstones, London, 2000, p. 106. Until 2008 a wax effigy of Sir Arthur Gilbert remained seated at the Befort bureau at Somerset House as part of a recreation of his offices in Beverly Hills, California. The piece is now on view at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
An identical bureau by Befort Jeune is illustrated in A. Massinelli, The Gilbert Collection: Hardstones, London, 2000, p. 106. Until 2008 a wax effigy of Sir Arthur Gilbert remained seated at the Befort bureau at Somerset House as part of a recreation of his offices in Beverly Hills, California. The piece is now on view at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.