.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
LOUIS XV 'BUREAUX AMARANTE'
This bureau plat, both in form and in the superbly and softly chased mounts, is clearly inspired by the oeuvre of André-Charles Boulle, ébéniste, ciseleur et doreur du roi. Boulle is to a large extent credited with the evolution of the bureau plat, and his influence prevailed even after his death in 1732, partially thanks to the atelier maintained by Boulle fils.
Several bureaux plats display identical angle mounts. These include:
1. That previously in the Bavarian Royal Collection and now in the Bayerische Nationalmuseum, Munich. A. Pradère attributes it to Noël Gérard in Les Ebénistes Francais de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 111.
2. Another in the collection of Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
3. Another formerly in the collection of the comte de Pourtales, sold Christie's, London, 16 April 1959, lot 73.
4. Another sold anonymously, Sotheby's New York, 7 May 1983, lot 10.
5. Another sold anonymously, stamped GODRO, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 12 February 1979, lot 239.
6. Another stamped by Louis Delaitre, sold at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Maître Ferri, 7 July 1992, lot 159.
Executed in either ebony or amaranth, this group, with their identical angle mounts, must have been executed in the same atelier in the early Louis XV period.
Several bureaux plats in amaranth are recorded but unfortunately they are badly described. The Régent, the duc d'Orléans, possessed one à compartiments de bandes de cuivre and with pieds-de-bîche, while the 1732 inventory of the cabinet of the financier Peyrenc de Moras records un bureau de bois d'amarante couvert de maroquin noir garni de trois tiroirs, le dit bureau à cordon du cuivre et orné de bronze doré d'or moulu.
Their enduring popularity is further confirmed as late as 1731-2, when Antoine-Robert Gaudreaux delivered trois petits bureaux en amarante dont deux à filets de buis to the garde-meuble de la couronne.
This bureau plat, both in form and in the superbly and softly chased mounts, is clearly inspired by the oeuvre of André-Charles Boulle, ébéniste, ciseleur et doreur du roi. Boulle is to a large extent credited with the evolution of the bureau plat, and his influence prevailed even after his death in 1732, partially thanks to the atelier maintained by Boulle fils.
Several bureaux plats display identical angle mounts. These include:
1. That previously in the Bavarian Royal Collection and now in the Bayerische Nationalmuseum, Munich. A. Pradère attributes it to Noël Gérard in Les Ebénistes Francais de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, p. 111.
2. Another in the collection of Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid.
3. Another formerly in the collection of the comte de Pourtales, sold Christie's, London, 16 April 1959, lot 73.
4. Another sold anonymously, Sotheby's New York, 7 May 1983, lot 10.
5. Another sold anonymously, stamped GODRO, sold anonymously at Sotheby's Monaco, 12 February 1979, lot 239.
6. Another stamped by Louis Delaitre, sold at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Maître Ferri, 7 July 1992, lot 159.
Executed in either ebony or amaranth, this group, with their identical angle mounts, must have been executed in the same atelier in the early Louis XV period.
Several bureaux plats in amaranth are recorded but unfortunately they are badly described. The Régent, the duc d'Orléans, possessed one à compartiments de bandes de cuivre and with pieds-de-bîche, while the 1732 inventory of the cabinet of the financier Peyrenc de Moras records un bureau de bois d'amarante couvert de maroquin noir garni de trois tiroirs, le dit bureau à cordon du cuivre et orné de bronze doré d'or moulu.
Their enduring popularity is further confirmed as late as 1731-2, when Antoine-Robert Gaudreaux delivered trois petits bureaux en amarante dont deux à filets de buis to the garde-meuble de la couronne.