Lot Essay
Guillaume Beneman, maître in 1785.
In the Mentmore sale of 1977 this secrétaire and its en suite commode both erroneously thought to have come from the Palace of Compiègne via the collection of Sir George Watson Taylor at Chrisie's on 28 May 1825. Although the Watson-Taylor sale descrsibes a closely related secrétaire and commode as lots 26 and 27 from the Palace of Compiègne, contrastingly the secrétaire was veneered in rosewood and the commode in mahogany and satinwood and both had 'brocatelle d'Espagne' marble tops. The commode (lot 27) was consequently sold in Paris in 1988 (Ader Picard Tajan, 17 March 1988, lot 84) and bore the label of the marchand Rieul Rocreux, who flourished in the rue Royale between 1816 and 1820.
This secrétaire belongs to an identifiable group all attributed to Beneman that share the distinctive putto supporting the entablature. This includes the secrétaire and commode probably supplied to the King of Spain by the marchand Godon at the very end of the 18th Century (F. Niño Más and P. Junquera de Vega, Palacio Real de Madrid, Madrid, 1985, pp. 76-77) and in the Victoria and Albert Museum (F.J.B. Watson, Le Meuble Louis XVI, London, 1963). And a pair of commodes from a private collection and illustrated in (Elements of Style, Rosenburg and Stiebel, New York, 1984). Finally a secrétaire and commode stamped by Beneman and of a similar character was supplied for the Palais Michail, in Saint Petersburg in the late 18th Century although they are mounted with griffins to the angles.
In the Mentmore sale of 1977 this secrétaire and its en suite commode both erroneously thought to have come from the Palace of Compiègne via the collection of Sir George Watson Taylor at Chrisie's on 28 May 1825. Although the Watson-Taylor sale descrsibes a closely related secrétaire and commode as lots 26 and 27 from the Palace of Compiègne, contrastingly the secrétaire was veneered in rosewood and the commode in mahogany and satinwood and both had 'brocatelle d'Espagne' marble tops. The commode (lot 27) was consequently sold in Paris in 1988 (Ader Picard Tajan, 17 March 1988, lot 84) and bore the label of the marchand Rieul Rocreux, who flourished in the rue Royale between 1816 and 1820.
This secrétaire belongs to an identifiable group all attributed to Beneman that share the distinctive putto supporting the entablature. This includes the secrétaire and commode probably supplied to the King of Spain by the marchand Godon at the very end of the 18th Century (F. Niño Más and P. Junquera de Vega, Palacio Real de Madrid, Madrid, 1985, pp. 76-77) and in the Victoria and Albert Museum (F.J.B. Watson, Le Meuble Louis XVI, London, 1963). And a pair of commodes from a private collection and illustrated in (Elements of Style, Rosenburg and Stiebel, New York, 1984). Finally a secrétaire and commode stamped by Beneman and of a similar character was supplied for the Palais Michail, in Saint Petersburg in the late 18th Century although they are mounted with griffins to the angles.