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Lot Essay
Bernard Molitor, maître in 1787
This elegant gueridon, with its sober, unadorned mahogany in the stylish goût anglais of the 1780's, is closely related, particularly in the distinctive incurved profile of its supports, to two gueridons convincingly attributed to Molitor by Ulrich Leben, one in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris, which also has the additional feature of a revolving top, as on this gueridon (illustrated here), and one sold Sotheby's, Monaco, 23-24 June 1985, lot 877, now in a private collection (illustrated U. Leben, Molitor Ebéniste from the Ancien Régime to the Bourbon Restoration, London, 1992 p. 197, cat. 100, and p. 160, fig. 166, cat. 101). A further gueridon of the same outline, but with the addition of citronnier as well as mahogany, is illustrated op. cit., p. 196, cat. 99. Leben places them relatively early in Molitor's career-his later gueridons tended to be lighter and less robust in outline.
This elegant gueridon, with its sober, unadorned mahogany in the stylish goût anglais of the 1780's, is closely related, particularly in the distinctive incurved profile of its supports, to two gueridons convincingly attributed to Molitor by Ulrich Leben, one in the Musée Nissim de Camondo, Paris, which also has the additional feature of a revolving top, as on this gueridon (illustrated here), and one sold Sotheby's, Monaco, 23-24 June 1985, lot 877, now in a private collection (illustrated U. Leben, Molitor Ebéniste from the Ancien Régime to the Bourbon Restoration, London, 1992 p. 197, cat. 100, and p. 160, fig. 166, cat. 101). A further gueridon of the same outline, but with the addition of citronnier as well as mahogany, is illustrated op. cit., p. 196, cat. 99. Leben places them relatively early in Molitor's career-his later gueridons tended to be lighter and less robust in outline.