A SWEDISH NEOCLASSIC TULIPWOOD, HAREWOOD AND MARQUETRY BONHEUR-DU-JOUR

LATE 18TH CENTURY, POSSIBLY MADE FOR THE ENGLISH MARKET

Details

A SWEDISH NEOCLASSIC TULIPWOOD, HAREWOOD AND MARQUETRY BONHEUR-DU-JOUR
late 18th century, possibly made for the English market
The superstructure with arched gallery over a pair of arched doors and short drawers flanking an open compartment with a hinged cast gallery, the rectangular case with outset corners above a pull out writing slide and a side drawer, the panelled frieze inlaid with vines and meandering lines, on pierced and turned tapering legs mounted with cast flowerheads and joined by a pierced interlaced X-stretcher centering an oval platform, with leaf-collared and leaf tip cast feet, inlaid with Chinese figures in pastoral landscapes
39¼in. (100cm.) high, 28½in. (72.5cm.) wide, 16in. (40.5cm.) deep

Lot Essay

The distinctive marquetry depicting willowy Oriental figures and attenuated pagodas on a harewood ground also appears on a neoclassical-form tea caddy which sold at Christie's London, 5 July 1990, lot 7. While the form of both these objects departs slightly from contemporary English examples, it is quite possible that both of these objects were made by one of the group of Swedish cabinetmakers who came to work in London from the 1760's and included Christopher Fuhrlohg (d.1787), George Haupt (d.1784) and Carl Gustav Martin. It is interesting to note the typically English oak-lined drawer construction on this piece, while the squared leg joining to a single turned lower section is more closely related to Swedish neoclassical furniture (see S.Wallin, Nordiska Museets Möler Fran Svenska Herremanshem, vol.III, 1935, pp.66-67, figs.943-45, and p.78, fig.979).