A LOUIS XIV MOTHER-OF-PEARL, STAINED HORN, COPPER AND BRASS-INLAID BROWN TORTOISESHELL BOULLE MARQUETRY CASKET

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THE PROPERTY OF THE LATE HAROLD A. HARTOG SOLD TO BENEFIT THE HAROLD A. AND INGEBORG L. HARTOG FOUNDATION

A LOUIS XIV MOTHER-OF-PEARL, STAINED HORN, COPPER AND BRASS-INLAID BROWN TORTOISESHELL BOULLE MARQUETRY CASKET

CIRCA 1690-1700, POSSIBLY GERMAN

Details

A LOUIS XIV MOTHER-OF-PEARL, STAINED HORN, COPPER AND BRASS-INLAID BROWN TORTOISESHELL BOULLE MARQUETRY CASKET
CIRCA 1690-1700, POSSIBLY GERMAN
Inlaid overall with Chinoiserie scenes within engraved strapwork borders decorated with shells, the rectangular domed lid depicting a hunting scene in a rocky landscape with a lake in the foreground and fitted with a secret drawer hidden behind one side and enclosing an amaranth-lined interior, with a mirror to the reverse, the sides decorated with further pastoral scenes, showing musicians and dancing figures in exotic landscapes, with a shallow drawer to one side, on later paw feet, losses and restorations, with paper inventory later inscribed in ink '85577'
7½ in. (15 cm.) high; 12½ in. (32 cm.) wide; 9 in. (23 cm.) deep

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Sale room notice

A closely related casket with identical Chinoiserie marquetry scenes in brass, mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell marquetry is in the Wallace Collection, London (illustrated P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection: Catalogue of Furniture, vol. II, London 1996, cat. 133, pp. 620-625).

Lot Essay

This exquisite little casket is related to a small group of late 17th century items that were decorated in this colourful technique with tinted horn. This group includes a table formerly in the collections of the Duchesse de Talleyrand, sold Sotheby's Monaco, 14-15 June 1981, lot 145, as well as a bureau from Knole, Kent, sold Christie's, London, 17 June, 1987, lot 73, and a related bureau formerly in the collection of Arturo Lopez-Willshaw and Baron de Redé (illustrated in H. Hayward, World Furniture, London, 1970, p. 96). The most beautiful examples within this little group are probably two tables formerly in the Keck Collection, sold Sotheby's, New York, 5-6 December 1991, lot 31, and the Patiño Collection, sold Sotheby's, New York, 20 May 1992, lot 57. This distinctive technique was practised in Germany at the time and there is a possibility that all these pieces were made there (G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, 1974, vol. II, No. 114, pp. 550-557).

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