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Lot Essay
This dressing-bureau is attributed to Johann Jakob Spindler (1724 - 1792). The son of Johann Spindler (1691 - 1770) and brother of the celebrated ébénistes Johann Friedrich and Heinrich William, the latter of whom is thought to have trained in the Migeon workshop in Paris, Jakob was appointed Bayreuther Hofschreiner in 1748 and collaborated with the designer Carlo Galli Bibiena in Bayreuth in 1754. Its unusual mouvementé form is almost identical in profile to the bureau supplied by Jakob Spindler to the Neues Schloss in Bayreuth (H. Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, Munich, 1970, vol. II, fig. 712). Kreisel records that the Neues Schloss bureau has a simulated walnut veneer, on a chalk ground, that was necessitated by the need for economy at the court.
The stylistic connection with Jakob Spindler is, moreover, further underlined by the closely related rosette parquetry of the fall-front, which is shared on a bureau cabinet also supplied by Spindler to the Neues Schloss (ibid., fig. 714).
When this bureau was sold in 1995 the catalogue text noted that it was adapted in England in the 19th century with later interior fittings. Between 1995 and 1997, when it was sold again, the interior was returned to what is believed to be the original state.
The stylistic connection with Jakob Spindler is, moreover, further underlined by the closely related rosette parquetry of the fall-front, which is shared on a bureau cabinet also supplied by Spindler to the Neues Schloss (ibid., fig. 714).
When this bureau was sold in 1995 the catalogue text noted that it was adapted in England in the 19th century with later interior fittings. Between 1995 and 1997, when it was sold again, the interior was returned to what is believed to be the original state.