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Lot Essay
The Louis XIV gaines or pedestals for vase or statue, with sunflowered capitals and plinth-supported and volute-trussed herms wrapped by blue lambrequins, correspond to a pattern invented around 1700 by Andr-Charles Boulle (d. 1732) and illustrated in Mariette, Nouveaux Dessins de Meubles et Ouvrages de Bronzes et Marqueterie inventes et gravs par Andr-Charles Boulle, c. 1710. They correspond to a pair from the Htel de Noailles that were introduced to the Palais-Royal in the 19th century and are now in the Louvre (D. Alcouffe, Furniture Collection in the Louvre, vol. I, Dijon, 1993, pp. 88-89).
The pattern has always retained popularity. Four such pedestals, manufactured in the 1770s by Etienne Levasseur (d. 1798), who served his apprenticeship with Charles-Joseph Boulle (d. 1754) were acquired in 1818 by the dealer Chevalier Fereol Bonnemaison for the Duke of Wellington (M. Aldrich 'The Duke of Wellington's Gallery at Stratfield Saye' Apollo, June 1998, p. 26, fig. 11).
A closely related pair of pedestals, attributed to Andr-Charles Boulle, were sold at Christie's New York, 20 May 1998, lot 50 ($200,500).
See also lot 921
The pattern has always retained popularity. Four such pedestals, manufactured in the 1770s by Etienne Levasseur (d. 1798), who served his apprenticeship with Charles-Joseph Boulle (d. 1754) were acquired in 1818 by the dealer Chevalier Fereol Bonnemaison for the Duke of Wellington (M. Aldrich 'The Duke of Wellington's Gallery at Stratfield Saye' Apollo, June 1998, p. 26, fig. 11).
A closely related pair of pedestals, attributed to Andr-Charles Boulle, were sold at Christie's New York, 20 May 1998, lot 50 ($200,500).
See also lot 921