Lot Essay
This desk relates very closely in form and decoration to one stamped by Joseph Stöckel (maître in 1775) from the collection of the 2nd Viscount Bearstead, sold Christie's London, 11 June 1992, lot 89.
The sources for these marquetry ruins derive from engravings after G.P. Pannini, Hubert Robert and P.A. de Machy and were intended to resemble paintings as much as possible, an illusion heightened by ormolu framing and their positions on the piece of furniture. A panel on the top of an unsigned cylinder bureau in the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor derives from an engraving after Pannini 'Les Ruins de L'Attique', engraved by J.B. de Lorrain and 'Les Ruines du Péloponèse' engraved by P.F. Tardeau (see G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, 1974, vol. I, no. 65, pp. 320-325). A commode by Joseph Stöckel in the Jones Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, also bears a marquetry panel derived from an engraving by Tardieu of Sebastiano and Marco Ricci's Memorial to Sir Clowdisley Shovell (see G. de Bellaigue, 'Ruins in Marquetry', Apollo, January 1968, pp. 12-16).
It seems likely that these are the work of a marquetry specialist such as André-Louis Gilbert (1746-1809), who is thought to have supplied among others Bircklé, Roussel and Dautriche (see A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, 1989, p. 323). It would, however, also seem likely that in an age when marquetry decoration was in such demand, the larger ateliers would have perhaps had their own specialist (G. de Bellaigue, 'Engravings and the French Eighteenth Century Marqueteur', Burlington Magazine, May 1965, pp. 240-245 (part I) and July 1965, pp. 356-363 (part II).
Other bureaux with similar marquetry panels of architectural ruins were sold from the Edward James Collection, Christie's-on-the-Premises, West Dean Park, Sussex, 2-6 June 1986, lots 135 and 137.
The sources for these marquetry ruins derive from engravings after G.P. Pannini, Hubert Robert and P.A. de Machy and were intended to resemble paintings as much as possible, an illusion heightened by ormolu framing and their positions on the piece of furniture. A panel on the top of an unsigned cylinder bureau in the James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor derives from an engraving after Pannini 'Les Ruins de L'Attique', engraved by J.B. de Lorrain and 'Les Ruines du Péloponèse' engraved by P.F. Tardeau (see G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, 1974, vol. I, no. 65, pp. 320-325). A commode by Joseph Stöckel in the Jones Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, also bears a marquetry panel derived from an engraving by Tardieu of Sebastiano and Marco Ricci's Memorial to Sir Clowdisley Shovell (see G. de Bellaigue, 'Ruins in Marquetry', Apollo, January 1968, pp. 12-16).
It seems likely that these are the work of a marquetry specialist such as André-Louis Gilbert (1746-1809), who is thought to have supplied among others Bircklé, Roussel and Dautriche (see A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, 1989, p. 323). It would, however, also seem likely that in an age when marquetry decoration was in such demand, the larger ateliers would have perhaps had their own specialist (G. de Bellaigue, 'Engravings and the French Eighteenth Century Marqueteur', Burlington Magazine, May 1965, pp. 240-245 (part I) and July 1965, pp. 356-363 (part II).
Other bureaux with similar marquetry panels of architectural ruins were sold from the Edward James Collection, Christie's-on-the-Premises, West Dean Park, Sussex, 2-6 June 1986, lots 135 and 137.