THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 
A LOUIS XIV BOULLE BRASS-INLAID RED TORTOISESHELL BOULLE BUREAU-MAZARIN

ATTRIBUTED TO NICOLAS SAGEOT

Details
A LOUIS XIV BOULLE BRASS-INLAID RED TORTOISESHELL BOULLE BUREAU-MAZARIN
Attributed to Nicolas Sageot
Inlaid overall in première and contre-partie with engraved Bérainesque scenes of figures below lambrequin canopies with scrolling flowers and foliage, birds, butterflies, putti, monkeys and female masks within acanthus and strapwork borders, the rectangular moulded top with ebony banding above a concave-fronted frieze-drawer with fluted pilasters and a concave-fronted fallfront, flanked by three convex short drawers between square outswept pilasters and above a shaped apron, on eight S-shaped legs joined by two waved X-shaped flat stretchers and on raised bun feet, one drawer stamped twice L 901 and with various numerical inscriptions, restorations, the fallfront repaired at which time its apron was removed
52in. (133cm.) wide; 31½in. (80cm.) high; 28½in. (73cm.) deep

Lot Essay

Nicolas Sageot, maître in 1706.

The ornament of the apron and design of the marquetry is closely related to the oeuvre of the ébéniste Nicolas Sageot, whose work is discussed in P. Grand, 'Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l'époque', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, February, 1993, pp. 48-70.

Its general shape and the design of the marquetry is closely related to the bureau mazarin, stamped by Nicolas Sageot, to the one in the Royal Palace in Stockholm (illustrated ib id., p. 50).

Nicolas Sageot, son of a wine grower, was born in 1666. His atelier was probably active from 1690, though the first records date from 1698 when he employed two workers. Based in the Grand-Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Sageot worked, until 1706 as an ouvrier libre, before his appointment as maître. Extremely successful, he declared the vast sum of 12,000 livres on the occasion of his marriage in 1712. Retiring on 26 July 1720 he sold 16,000 livres worth of furniture, all of which was decorated with brass and tortoiseshell marquetry.

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