THE PROPERTY OF A LADY (Lots 139-143)

A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND IVORY-INLAID TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY BONHEUR-DU-JOUR

IN THE MANNER OF CHARLES TOPINO

Details

A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND IVORY-INLAID TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY BONHEUR-DU-JOUR
In the Manner of Charles Topino
Inlaid overall with naive pictorial panels of kitchen utensils, peasants merry-making and architectural cappriccios, the later pierced three-quarter gallery on a rectangular superstructure above a tambour-fronted slide enclosing a drawer and flanked by two doors depicting peasants by a lake, each enclosing two further drawers, the hinged top inlaid with three cut-cornered panels depicting an imaginary palazzo and a walled city, enclosing a fitted interior with leather-lined writing-surface, two tulipwood-lidded compartments and a central lozenge-parquetry panel with a mirror to the reverse and sliding- well beneath, the frieze inlaid with three cut-cornered panels of peasants dancing, the outer panels each enclosing a drawer inlaid sans traverse and with further vases to the sides and back, on square tapering legs with ormolu collars and tapering pounced-panelled sabots, extensive restorations and replacements to the veneer at the tops of the legs and the banding, the interior drawers of the superstructure later, with label '7FR,' inscribed in chalk 'Droite'
28½ in. (72.5 cm.) wide; 39¾ in. (101 cm.) high; 15¾ in. (40 cm.) deep

Provenance

Anonymous sale, Sotheby's Monaco, 4 March 1984, lot 486.

Lot Essay

Charles Topino (maître in 1773) specialised in the production of such naif marquetry bonheur-du-jours. With their distinctive chinoiserie still-lives of domestic objects, they enjoyed great popularity between 1770 and 1775 and were almost certainly inspired by Chinese export coromandel lacquer screens, whose borders were frequently decorated with utensils and porcelain.

A related bonheur-du-jour by Charles Topino, illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1989, p. 841 has similar country landscape scenes with the same distinctive trees with dark twisting trunks, while a further bonheur-du-jour inlaid with vases and utensils was sold anonymously in these Rooms, 23 November 1922, lot 110.

More from Important French Furniture

View All