CIRCA 1800-05, POSSIBLY BY JACOB. D. R. MESLÉE

細節

AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY CONSOLE/JARDINIERE
Circa 1800-05, possibly by Jacob. D. R. Meslée
The rectangular white marble top within a three-sided pierced gallery, enclosing a part lead-lined well, over a frieze set with a tablet depicting Zeus and Juno, above them flies a winged woman, to the side are a peacock and an eagle, with plain mahogany to the reverse of the frieze, the sides set with a wreath and a butterfly with laurel at the corners, the sides with pierced X-form supports centered by patera, on baluster legs with acanthus capitals joined by a stretcher, on horn casters, with a yellow chalk inscription C356, and a white tag Le XIX siecle francais Connaissance des Arts, 1808/1810 Ane Coll Fabius Frères, see p. 56, item 2., the marble inscribed C-356 and Marbre a la console
36in. (92cm.) high, 41in. (104cm.) wide, 20in. (51cm.) deep

來源

Acquired from French & Co., New York, 6, April 1964 ($1,320).

拍品專文

Designed in the 'antique' manner popularised by Messrs. Percier and Fontaine in their Recueils des Decorations Intérieures of 1802, this console/jardinière shares much stylistically with the documented oeuvre of Jacob-Desmalter. Favoured ébénistes of Napoleon, François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter and Georges Jacob worked extensively for the Garde-Meuble Impériale, employing the stamp JACOB.D R.MESLEE between 1803-13 on sober mahogany furniture with jewel-like ormolu mounts supplied for Compiègne, Saint-Cloud and almost all the Imperial Palaces, both in France and abroad.

Known as a 'table à fleurs' in the 18th Century and veneered on all four sides, this console/jardinière was conceived with castors so that it could be transformed into 'une table de salon' if brought away from the wall.

The inventory taken following the death of comte Francois Martial de Choiseul Beaupré, Menin de Dauphin and Lieutenant Général des armées du Roi, in 1792, described, in the salon of his hôtel on the quai Malaquai: 'deux consoles de bois d'acajou à double fond garnie de cuivre, panneaux et perles de cuivre doré surmonté de leur tablettes de marbre garnies en dedans de caisse de plomb pour recevoir des caisses 240'. Obviously deemed to be sufficiently rare to be described at length, this type of console/jardinière is known to have been made by Adam Weisweiler, Jean-Henri Riesener and Ferdinand Bury during the Ancien regime. The ébéniste responsible for this superb example was therefore following in this same tradition.