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Lot Essay
Bernard II van Risenburgh, maître in 1733.
This sumptuous commode is identically mounted - and of virtually the same size and bombé shape - as that supplied to Madame de Pompadour (1721-64) for the Château de Bellevue. Veneered in bois satine and amaranth parquetry, the Bellevue commode was subsequently inherited by Mesdames, the daughters of Louis XV and was exhibited in Paris in De Versailles à Paris, le Destin des Collections Royales, 1989, no. 75 (illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p.131).
A commode of almost identical form, also stamped by BVRB and decorated with the same arabesque floral marquetry, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 24 February 1956 and is illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Grands Ebénistes, Paris, n.d., fig.2. A further closely related commode, also stamped by BVRB and of almost identical proportions and the same mounts but decorated in his more typical bois de bout marquetry is illustrated in Collection Connaissance des Arts, ed. Pierre Verlet, Les Ebénistes du XVIIIe Siècle Français, Paris, 1963, p.78, fig.2 and in Kjellberg, op. cit., p.129, fig. e.
Although pictorial - as opposed to bois de bout - floral marquetry decoration is less common in BVRB's oeuvre, it may well have been intended for the Princely German market, and can be seen on one of his masterpieces - the Louis XV table à écrire in the Wrightsman Collection, which was formerly in the collection of Baron Cassel van Doorn and is now displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection Furniture Clocks Gilt-Bronzes, New York, 1966, vol.II, cat. no.151).
The son of a cabinet-maker of Dutch origin, Bernard II van Risen Burgh is arguably the most celebrated ébéniste of the Rococo period. Elected as maître in October 1730, van Risen Burgh established his workshop independently of his father's in the Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, where he began to produce furniture distinguished principally by the extraordinary quality of its conception, construction and ormolu mounts. Although much of his oeuvre is stamped with his initials, BVRB, it was not until the 1950's that this abbreviated stamp was finally correctly identified, and for many decades he was referred to as 'BVRB the unknown maker'.
(For further information on B.V.R.B and his oeuvre, see note to lot 670.)
The red wax seal to the top of the commode is inscribed with an indistinct motto D.CONTRA, which according to the College of Arms, London could possibly relate to two mottoes: CONTRA HOSTEM SURRECTUS, which is the motto of the Bourgignon-La-Mure family; or, CONTRA AUDENTITOR ITO, which is the motto of the De Pollod de Saint-Aignan family.
This sumptuous commode is identically mounted - and of virtually the same size and bombé shape - as that supplied to Madame de Pompadour (1721-64) for the Château de Bellevue. Veneered in bois satine and amaranth parquetry, the Bellevue commode was subsequently inherited by Mesdames, the daughters of Louis XV and was exhibited in Paris in De Versailles à Paris, le Destin des Collections Royales, 1989, no. 75 (illustrated in P. Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1989, p.131).
A commode of almost identical form, also stamped by BVRB and decorated with the same arabesque floral marquetry, was sold anonymously at Sotheby's London, 24 February 1956 and is illustrated in P. Verlet, Les Grands Ebénistes, Paris, n.d., fig.2. A further closely related commode, also stamped by BVRB and of almost identical proportions and the same mounts but decorated in his more typical bois de bout marquetry is illustrated in Collection Connaissance des Arts, ed. Pierre Verlet, Les Ebénistes du XVIIIe Siècle Français, Paris, 1963, p.78, fig.2 and in Kjellberg, op. cit., p.129, fig. e.
Although pictorial - as opposed to bois de bout - floral marquetry decoration is less common in BVRB's oeuvre, it may well have been intended for the Princely German market, and can be seen on one of his masterpieces - the Louis XV table à écrire in the Wrightsman Collection, which was formerly in the collection of Baron Cassel van Doorn and is now displayed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (illustrated in F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection Furniture Clocks Gilt-Bronzes, New York, 1966, vol.II, cat. no.151).
The son of a cabinet-maker of Dutch origin, Bernard II van Risen Burgh is arguably the most celebrated ébéniste of the Rococo period. Elected as maître in October 1730, van Risen Burgh established his workshop independently of his father's in the Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, where he began to produce furniture distinguished principally by the extraordinary quality of its conception, construction and ormolu mounts. Although much of his oeuvre is stamped with his initials, BVRB, it was not until the 1950's that this abbreviated stamp was finally correctly identified, and for many decades he was referred to as 'BVRB the unknown maker'.
(For further information on B.V.R.B and his oeuvre, see note to lot 670.)
The red wax seal to the top of the commode is inscribed with an indistinct motto D.CONTRA, which according to the College of Arms, London could possibly relate to two mottoes: CONTRA HOSTEM SURRECTUS, which is the motto of the Bourgignon-La-Mure family; or, CONTRA AUDENTITOR ITO, which is the motto of the De Pollod de Saint-Aignan family.