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Lot Essay
A similar commode sold anonymously at Christie's London, 10 June 1993, lot 90 (£95,000).
The top, designed in the Louis XIV 'antique' or 'Roman' style, depicts birds alighting on a flower posy within a floral-wreathed medallion. The latter, bound by four foliated clasps of acanthus foliage, has pedestal-supports provided by scrolled acanthus-enriched ribbons, whose flowered and voluted corners are tied by scalloped rings. At the sides, sacred urns, embellished with foliage, are perched on acanthus buds. The borders derive from arabesque foliage patterns, such as those published by Paul Androuet DuCerceau in his Livre d'Ornemens de feuillage, circa 1650, while the naturalism of the flowers relates to the work of the flower artist Blain de Fontenay (d. 1715). The superb naturalism of the marquetry relates to that of André-Charles Boulle on a cabinet in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham (A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, London, 1989, p. 98) and a table from the Wildenstein/Ojjeh Collection, sold Sotheby's Monaco, 26 June 1979, lot 132.
The top, designed in the Louis XIV 'antique' or 'Roman' style, depicts birds alighting on a flower posy within a floral-wreathed medallion. The latter, bound by four foliated clasps of acanthus foliage, has pedestal-supports provided by scrolled acanthus-enriched ribbons, whose flowered and voluted corners are tied by scalloped rings. At the sides, sacred urns, embellished with foliage, are perched on acanthus buds. The borders derive from arabesque foliage patterns, such as those published by Paul Androuet DuCerceau in his Livre d'Ornemens de feuillage, circa 1650, while the naturalism of the flowers relates to the work of the flower artist Blain de Fontenay (d. 1715). The superb naturalism of the marquetry relates to that of André-Charles Boulle on a cabinet in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham (A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, London, 1989, p. 98) and a table from the Wildenstein/Ojjeh Collection, sold Sotheby's Monaco, 26 June 1979, lot 132.