Lot Essay
The overall form of this bureau plat relates to the drawing in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, variously attributed both to Boulle and to the designer Gilles-Marie Oppenord (illustrated in A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, Paris, 1989, p. 83, fig. 36)
The closest parallel to the Houghton bureau plat is one sold from the Jacques Doucet Collection, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 7-8 June 1912, lot 317. The Doucet bureau plat also appears to have been restored in the Régence period, and the proportions of the otp probably closely resemble the original top of the Houghton bureau plat, before its further modification. With its distinctive projecting frieze drawer and satyr-mounts heading the angles, this bureau plat belongs to a group more usually inlaid in première and contre-partie marquetry, rather than parquetry. They include that in première-partie in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at Boughton House, Northamptonshire (illustrated in T. Murdoch et. al., Boughton House, The English Versailles, London, 1992, p. 122, fig. 113); another, in contre-partie, previously in the Roussel Collection, was sold Sotheby's Monaco, 22 July 1986, lot 550; Another similar, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 21 June 1974, lot 61; and a further example was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 19 November 1993, lot 41
An extremely closely related female mask appears on the bureau plat in the Louvre, illustrated in D. Alcouffe, et. al., Furniture Collections in The Louvre, Dijon, 1993, 1, no. 27, p. 97.
The closest parallel to the Houghton bureau plat is one sold from the Jacques Doucet Collection, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 7-8 June 1912, lot 317. The Doucet bureau plat also appears to have been restored in the Régence period, and the proportions of the otp probably closely resemble the original top of the Houghton bureau plat, before its further modification. With its distinctive projecting frieze drawer and satyr-mounts heading the angles, this bureau plat belongs to a group more usually inlaid in première and contre-partie marquetry, rather than parquetry. They include that in première-partie in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry at Boughton House, Northamptonshire (illustrated in T. Murdoch et. al., Boughton House, The English Versailles, London, 1992, p. 122, fig. 113); another, in contre-partie, previously in the Roussel Collection, was sold Sotheby's Monaco, 22 July 1986, lot 550; Another similar, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 21 June 1974, lot 61; and a further example was sold anonymously at Sotheby's New York, 19 November 1993, lot 41
An extremely closely related female mask appears on the bureau plat in the Louvre, illustrated in D. Alcouffe, et. al., Furniture Collections in The Louvre, Dijon, 1993, 1, no. 27, p. 97.