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Lot Essay
The top of this richly inlaid marquetry commode is designed in the Louis XIV 'antique' or 'Roman' style. It depicts a flower basket beneath a canopy, flanked by grotesque and arabesque compositions of merrymakers around tables, within strapwork and drapery-swagged vignettes. At the sides, further flower urns rest on airy scrolled supports, and the angles are cleverly inlaid to imitate Ionic columns gently wrapped with floral trails.
The marquetry is unusual in its combination of naturalistic wood 'peinture en bois' and fantastic arabesque designs, all executed in wood and ivory. The naturalism of the flowers relates to the paintings of the artist Blain de Fontenay (d. 1715) and to the work produced in Paris in the late 17th century by 18th century master ébénistes Andre-Charles Boulle (ébéniste, Ciseleur, Doreur et Sculpteur du Roi in 1672) and Pierre Gole (circa 1620 - 1684). Simultaneously, the whimsical arabesque and grotesque patterns reflect the designs of the late 17th and 18th century ornemanistes, such as those published by Jean Bérain (1630-1711) and Paul Androuet Du Cerceau in his Livre d'Ornemens de feuillage, circa 1650, as well as Pierre Bourdon's Livre premier des essais de gravure (First book of print models) of 1703.
Related commodes entirely in naturalistic floral marquetry against an ebony ground include one sold from the estate of Ogden Phipps, Sotheby's New York, 19 October 2002, lot 115, and one sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 22 May 2002, lot 443. Examples of commodes with similar Bérainesque designs exist more commonly in Boulle marquetry (using metals against a tortoiseshell ground), such as a commode sold anonymously Christie's London, 1 December 2005, lot 124.
The marquetry is unusual in its combination of naturalistic wood 'peinture en bois' and fantastic arabesque designs, all executed in wood and ivory. The naturalism of the flowers relates to the paintings of the artist Blain de Fontenay (d. 1715) and to the work produced in Paris in the late 17th century by 18th century master ébénistes Andre-Charles Boulle (ébéniste, Ciseleur, Doreur et Sculpteur du Roi in 1672) and Pierre Gole (circa 1620 - 1684). Simultaneously, the whimsical arabesque and grotesque patterns reflect the designs of the late 17th and 18th century ornemanistes, such as those published by Jean Bérain (1630-1711) and Paul Androuet Du Cerceau in his Livre d'Ornemens de feuillage, circa 1650, as well as Pierre Bourdon's Livre premier des essais de gravure (First book of print models) of 1703.
Related commodes entirely in naturalistic floral marquetry against an ebony ground include one sold from the estate of Ogden Phipps, Sotheby's New York, 19 October 2002, lot 115, and one sold anonymously, Christie's New York, 22 May 2002, lot 443. Examples of commodes with similar Bérainesque designs exist more commonly in Boulle marquetry (using metals against a tortoiseshell ground), such as a commode sold anonymously Christie's London, 1 December 2005, lot 124.