A PAIR OF ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONISED AND BRASS-INLAID BOULLE MARQUETRY SIDE CABINETS

THE DOORS AND THE DRAWERS 17TH CENTURY, RECONSTRUCTED IN THE 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONISED AND BRASS-INLAID BOULLE MARQUETRY SIDE CABINETS
The doors and the drawers 17th Century, reconstructed in the 19th Century
Each with a rectangular Belgian black fossil marble top above an upswept acanthus border and a frieze-drawer flanked by paterae, above a door with a shaped cartouche inlaid in contre-partie with arabesques flanqued by foliate-hung female masks, the sides mounted with Apollo figures, on a plinth centred by a bacchic mask and further paterae
47 in. (120.5 cm.) high; 28 in. (71 cm.) wide; 13 in. (33 cm.) deep (2)

Provenance

The Dukes of Gordon, Gordon Castle, Scotland, and by descent until bequeathed in the 1864 by Elisabeth, 5th Duchess of Gordon, (1794 - 1864) to the Brodies.
The Brodie of Brodie, Brodie Castle, Elgin, Scotland.
Anonymous sale in these Rooms, 10 June 1993, lot 55.

Lot Essay

The mounts depicting the Four Seasons are after a well-known Boulle model and appear on numerous pieces from the Boulle workshop. The Wallace Collection contains a number of pieces with these mounts. A side-cabinet stamped Joseph displays the figures of Bacchus and Ceres (P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Furniture, London, 1996, vol. II, pp. 573-577, cat. 124 (F383)). Bacchus and Hiems appear on the armoires F.61 and F.62 and on the pedestal cabinets F.393 and F.394. Bacchus and Ceres appear on a wardrobe F.63. The decoration on the inside of the doors on the armoire F.61 is very similar to that on the doors of the two cabinets.

A pair of similar pedestal cabinets from the H. Bouvier Collection in the Muse Carnavalet, Paris, is illustrated in Collection Henriette Bouvier, legue au Muse Carnavalet, Paris, 1968, no. 3.

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