Lot Essay
This model of pedestal closely follows a design by André-Charles Boulle, published after 1707 by Mariette as the title page of his Nouveaux Deisseins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronze et de Marqueterie Inventés et gravés par André-Charles Boulle.
In the acte de délaissement between Boulle and his children in 1715 were listed:
Une contrepartie imparfaite du serre
papier accompagné de deux pieds d'estaux
de M. Bourvalais, valant 500l
Neuf pieds d'estaux contreparties placquées
mais imparfaits quant aux bronzes 150l
Plusiers escabellons ou guesnes à porter
des bronzes comme ceux de M. de Montargis 200l
ou autres
while in the inventory following Boulle's death in 1732 records
no. 30 Une boeste de modèles de
franges et houppes des pieds d'estaux
de cabinet de M Bourvalais pe-
sant treize livres, prisés à raison de
vingt sols la livre XIII (131)
(J.P. Samoyault, André-Charles Boulle et sa Famille, Geneva, 1979, pp. 68-69 and 139). This would therefore suggest that the model was originally commissioned by Paul Poisson de Bourvalais (d. 6 February 1719).
Although a number of pedestals of this design, with variations, are recorded, the distinctive pattern of the apron marquetry appears only on the Givenchy Pedestals (sold by M. Hubert de Givenchy, Christie's Monaco, 4 December 1993, lot 67) and on the set of four pedestals attributed to Etienne Levasseur, acquired in Paris by the 1st Duke of Wellington from the marchand Lerouge in 1818, through the intervention of Chevallier Bonnemaison. The Givenchy pedestals were previously in the collection of the Duke of York, George III's son, and were sold at Christie's by his Executors on 5th April 1827, lots 110 and 111. On the second day of the sale, two further pedestals were sold, lots 86 and 88, described as
'a superb terminus of ebony, panelled with devices and foliage of steel, inlaid with brass, over which, at top, is spread a drapery, embroidered with devices of steel work, inlaid in tortoiseshell of turquoise colour, and bordered with ormolu in imitation of gold fringe, the shoulders of the terminus of steel work, in bold style, about 4 ft. 4 high.'
A watercolour drawing of a pedestal of this model in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa, probably executed for the sale of Lalive de Jully's Collection in 1770, is illustrated by Peter Juhring, 'Designs for and after Boulle Furniture', Burlington Magazine, June 1992, p. 355.
Apart form the refinement of the stepped top on some and the existence of both première and contre-partie examples, the most obvious variation within the group is the use on some of this blue-tinted tortoiseshell on the fringed lambrequin. This model was extremely popular with collectors of Boulle furniture in the later 18th Century, appearing regularly in Parisian sale catalogues between the late 1760s and the 1790s, and in the early 19th Century, especially in England. There are six examples (three pairs) in the Louvre, two stamped by both Séverin and Levasseur and one by Levasseur alone, acting as repairers (D. Alcouffe, A. Dion-Tenenbaum and A. Lefébure, 'Furniture Collections in the Louvre', Dijon, 1993, I, no. 22, pp. 88-89). A pair en première partie with blue-tinted lambrequins, probably from the Alfred de Rothschild Collection at Halton, Buckinghamshire, was sold at Christie's Monaco, 18 June 1989, lot 210; a further pair from the Tannouri Collection, Paris was sold at Christie's London, 13 June 1991, lot 73; and a further pair en première partie was sold in the Keck Collection, Sotheby's New York, 5-6 December 1991, lot 26. Others, including the sets of four each at Uppark and Chatsworth and the three at Versailles are listed by A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Francais de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, pp. 105-6.
In the acte de délaissement between Boulle and his children in 1715 were listed:
Une contrepartie imparfaite du serre
papier accompagné de deux pieds d'estaux
de M. Bourvalais, valant 500l
Neuf pieds d'estaux contreparties placquées
mais imparfaits quant aux bronzes 150l
Plusiers escabellons ou guesnes à porter
des bronzes comme ceux de M. de Montargis 200l
ou autres
while in the inventory following Boulle's death in 1732 records
no. 30 Une boeste de modèles de
franges et houppes des pieds d'estaux
de cabinet de M Bourvalais pe-
sant treize livres, prisés à raison de
vingt sols la livre XIII (131)
(J.P. Samoyault, André-Charles Boulle et sa Famille, Geneva, 1979, pp. 68-69 and 139). This would therefore suggest that the model was originally commissioned by Paul Poisson de Bourvalais (d. 6 February 1719).
Although a number of pedestals of this design, with variations, are recorded, the distinctive pattern of the apron marquetry appears only on the Givenchy Pedestals (sold by M. Hubert de Givenchy, Christie's Monaco, 4 December 1993, lot 67) and on the set of four pedestals attributed to Etienne Levasseur, acquired in Paris by the 1st Duke of Wellington from the marchand Lerouge in 1818, through the intervention of Chevallier Bonnemaison. The Givenchy pedestals were previously in the collection of the Duke of York, George III's son, and were sold at Christie's by his Executors on 5th April 1827, lots 110 and 111. On the second day of the sale, two further pedestals were sold, lots 86 and 88, described as
'a superb terminus of ebony, panelled with devices and foliage of steel, inlaid with brass, over which, at top, is spread a drapery, embroidered with devices of steel work, inlaid in tortoiseshell of turquoise colour, and bordered with ormolu in imitation of gold fringe, the shoulders of the terminus of steel work, in bold style, about 4 ft. 4 high.'
A watercolour drawing of a pedestal of this model in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa, probably executed for the sale of Lalive de Jully's Collection in 1770, is illustrated by Peter Juhring, 'Designs for and after Boulle Furniture', Burlington Magazine, June 1992, p. 355.
Apart form the refinement of the stepped top on some and the existence of both première and contre-partie examples, the most obvious variation within the group is the use on some of this blue-tinted tortoiseshell on the fringed lambrequin. This model was extremely popular with collectors of Boulle furniture in the later 18th Century, appearing regularly in Parisian sale catalogues between the late 1760s and the 1790s, and in the early 19th Century, especially in England. There are six examples (three pairs) in the Louvre, two stamped by both Séverin and Levasseur and one by Levasseur alone, acting as repairers (D. Alcouffe, A. Dion-Tenenbaum and A. Lefébure, 'Furniture Collections in the Louvre', Dijon, 1993, I, no. 22, pp. 88-89). A pair en première partie with blue-tinted lambrequins, probably from the Alfred de Rothschild Collection at Halton, Buckinghamshire, was sold at Christie's Monaco, 18 June 1989, lot 210; a further pair from the Tannouri Collection, Paris was sold at Christie's London, 13 June 1991, lot 73; and a further pair en première partie was sold in the Keck Collection, Sotheby's New York, 5-6 December 1991, lot 26. Others, including the sets of four each at Uppark and Chatsworth and the three at Versailles are listed by A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Francais de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris, 1989, pp. 105-6.