Lot Essay
Jean-Henri Riesener, maître in 1768
PROVENANCE
Sotheby's Monaco, 14 June 1982, lot 489
PROVENANCE
Sotheby's Monaco, 14 June 1982, lot 489
Details
A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY COMMODE À ENCOIGNURES
LATE 18TH CENTURY, BY JEAN-HENRI RIESENER
With moulded demi-lune bleu turquin marble top above egg-and-dart banding and a panelled frieze drawer flanked by hinged similarly fitted compartments above two long drawers flanked by cabinet doors and enclosing shelves, all fitted with crisply cast scrolling foliate lockplates and berried laurel pulls above foliate-cast gadrooning, on square tapering legs ending in toupie sabots-38¾ in. (98.5cm.) high, 65 in. (165cm.) wide, 20¼ in. (51.5cm.) deep
LATE 18TH CENTURY, BY JEAN-HENRI RIESENER
With moulded demi-lune bleu turquin marble top above egg-and-dart banding and a panelled frieze drawer flanked by hinged similarly fitted compartments above two long drawers flanked by cabinet doors and enclosing shelves, all fitted with crisply cast scrolling foliate lockplates and berried laurel pulls above foliate-cast gadrooning, on square tapering legs ending in toupie sabots-38¾ in. (98.5cm.) high, 65 in. (165cm.) wide, 20¼ in. (51.5cm.) deep
Provenance
The Estate of Irene Hirschon Brenner, sold Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 22 October 1965, lot 313
Sotheby's Monaco, 14 June 1982, lot 489
Sotheby's Monaco, 14 June 1982, lot 489
Literature
T. Dell, Furniture in the Frick Collection, vol II, 1992, p.68
This commode can be firmly attributed to Riesener both on stylistic and structural grounds. It incorporates many features, such as the hollow chamfered drawer bottoms, which are characteristic of Riesener's work. The commode forms part of a small group which Riesener produced with rounded corners. The first one was made for Louis XVI at Versailles in 1775; another unsigned example now at Versailles (illustrated in G. Janneau, Le Mobilier Français: le Meuble d'ébénisterie, 1970, fig. 155); the example in the Frick Collection, New York, (illustrated in Dell, op. cit, p. 63); one from the collection of the Earl of Roseberg, Mentmore Towers, sold Sotheby's & Co., 18 May 1977, lot 438; and one offered Christie's London, 20 June 1985, lot 77. For a further discussion see T. Dell, ibid, pp. 62-69.
This commode can be firmly attributed to Riesener both on stylistic and structural grounds. It incorporates many features, such as the hollow chamfered drawer bottoms, which are characteristic of Riesener's work. The commode forms part of a small group which Riesener produced with rounded corners. The first one was made for Louis XVI at Versailles in 1775; another unsigned example now at Versailles (illustrated in G. Janneau, Le Mobilier Français: le Meuble d'ébénisterie, 1970, fig. 155); the example in the Frick Collection, New York, (illustrated in Dell, op. cit, p. 63); one from the collection of the Earl of Roseberg, Mentmore Towers, sold Sotheby's & Co., 18 May 1977, lot 438; and one offered Christie's London, 20 June 1985, lot 77. For a further discussion see T. Dell, ibid, pp. 62-69.