BY GUILLAUME BIENNAIS, EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

AN EMPIRE ORMOLU-MOUNTED MAHOGANY AND EBONY DRESSING-MIRROR
By Guillaume Biennais, early 19th Century
The octagonal double-sided plate within a floral-cast slip, flanked by herm monopodiae with hinged scrolling candle branches cast with palmettes and terminating in beaded drip-pans, the rectangular base with a drawer to the front and with eagles to the corners resting on orbs, the drip-pans replaced
17¼ in. (44 cm.) high; 21½ in. (55 cm.) wide; 10 in. (25.5 cm.) deep

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

Martin-Guillaume Biennais (1764-1843) of rue St. Honoré, held the post under Napoleon of Orfèvre de Sa Majesté l'Empereur et Roi.

Watercolour designs from the Biennais workshops, now in the Bibliothèque des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, are attributed to Charles Percier, co-author with Pierre Fontaine of Recueil de Décorations Intérieures, 1812, which illustrates related 'Grecian' furnishings to the present lot.

A related petite psyché, bearing the stamp of Biennais, is recorded in the collection of Prince Napoleon. The same Antique Janus-therm supports appear on another petite psyché in the collection of Mme. H. Lefuel, illustrated in Denise Ledoux-Lebard, Le Mobilier Français du XIX Siècle, 1984, pp. 86, 87, and related supports appear on another shield-shaped mirror at Malmaison, illustrated in S. Roche, Miroirs, Paris, 1956, fig. 97.

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