A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND BRASS-INLAID MAHOGANY CONSOLE DESSERTE

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more

This suite, comprising a commode-servante, a commode and two pairs of encoignures, reflects the influence of the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre. The heir to Simon-Philippe Poirier's (d. 1785) atelier, Daguerre specialised in supplying objets de luxe to the French Court and, following the Revolution particularly to the English nobility. Based in the rue St. Honoré, as his trade label reveals he 'Tient Magasin de Porcelaines, Bronzes, Ebénisterie, Glaces, Curiosités, & autres Marchandifes'. In 1786, Daguerre signed an agreement with Josiah Wedgwood for the exclusive rights to sell Wedgwoods' Jasperware in France, and in the following year he was commissioned to supply the furnishings for George, Prince of Wales at Carlton House, under the direction of the architect Henry Holland. Opening a shop in Piccadilly, Daguerre supplied such figures as the Duke of York, Lady Holdernesse, Earl Spencer and the 5th Duke of Bedford. A suite of related furniture, stamped by Claude-Charles Saunier and including a pair of consoles-dessertes and encoignures, was supplied by Daguerre under Henry Holland's direction to Earl Spencer for Spencer House, London. Now at Althorp, they were described in Daguerre's invoice of 31 May 1791 as: 'Deux Consoles en Bois d'acajou avec tablettes de marbre entre les Pieds, garni de frisse mouleur et autres Bronzes doré d'or moulu, les Dessus en marbre Blanc à 960 ...1,920 livres' (F.J.B. Watson, Louis XVI Furniture, London, 1960, no. 145, pp. 134-5, fig. 145).

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND BRASS-INLAID MAHOGANY CONSOLE DESSERTE

ATTRIBUTED TO CLAUDE-CHARLES SAUNIER

Details

A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED AND BRASS-INLAID MAHOGANY CONSOLE DESSERTE
Attributed to Claude-Charles Saunier
The grey-veined white marble bowfronted and concave-sided top above an egg-and-dart moulding and a panelled frieze with a drawer centred by a lozenge, on turned tapering stop-fluted legs with chandelles and inlaid flutes, headed by fluted Ionic capitals below barley panels, with a panelled back and galleried undertier with entrelac border, on turned tapering legs with pinched tops above gadrooned collars, on pine-cone feet, with 18th 19th Century paper label inscribed in ink '78' and chalk inscription 'DRESS ROOM', three legs reinforced at the top
34¼ in. (87 cm.) high; 44¼ in. (112.5 cm.) wide; 17¼ in. (44 cm.) deep

Provenance

Almost certainly bought by John Alexander, 4th Marquess of Bath (1831-1896) for Longleat, Wiltshire and by descent at Longleat.

Literature

1869 Inventory, Dressing Room B, 'A Louis XVI mahogany pier table with drawers and shelf beneath mounted with ormolu and with white marble slab'.
1896 Inventory (4th Marquess' Heirlooms), No. 41 Dressing Room, f 49 r 'A 3 ft 8 in. Empire shaped side table with drawer in frieze, shelf under, brass gallery, fluted front supports and veined marble top, gilt ormolu mounts'.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Claude-Charles Saunier, maître in 1752.

More from FURNITURE, PORCELAIN AND SILVER FROM LONGLEAT

View All