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Lot Essay
With its restrained yet powerful lines, characteristic female monopodiae supports with block feet and eared rectangular top, this elegant bureau plat exemplifies the style à l'étrusque of the late eighteenth Century and relates to the oeuvre of Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené (1747-1803, maître in 1769) towards the latter part of his life.
Amongst the related examples by the latter, a bureau from the collection of Grognot and Joinel featuring comparable Etruscan female monopodiae and a similarly-eared moulded top is illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ebénistes Français du XIXè Siècle, Paris, 1984, p. 578), while a further related bureau attributed to Sené was sold Sotheby's, London, 16 June 1995, lot 207 (£56,500).
As discussed by Ledoux-Lebard Ibid, p.579, Sené remained very active during the Revolution, supplying no less than one hundred bureaux with herm legs for the fonctionnaires de la République in 1794, these being so well received that a further hundred were ordered from him in 1795 (see P.Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIè Siècle, Paris, 2002, p.849, who further discusses Sené's lesser known production of bureaux).
Intriguingly, a bureau plat attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire and Adam Weisweiler, possibly supplied by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre and sold Christie's, London, 10 July 2008, lot 10 (£427,250) featured a closely related brass-mounted eared top above legs en jarret with patinated bronze Egyptian winged females, highly reminiscent of Sené's 'Etruscan'-inspired production.
Amongst the related examples by the latter, a bureau from the collection of Grognot and Joinel featuring comparable Etruscan female monopodiae and a similarly-eared moulded top is illustrated in D. Ledoux-Lebard, Les Ebénistes Français du XIXè Siècle, Paris, 1984, p. 578), while a further related bureau attributed to Sené was sold Sotheby's, London, 16 June 1995, lot 207 (£56,500).
As discussed by Ledoux-Lebard Ibid, p.579, Sené remained very active during the Revolution, supplying no less than one hundred bureaux with herm legs for the fonctionnaires de la République in 1794, these being so well received that a further hundred were ordered from him in 1795 (see P.Kjellberg, Le Mobilier Français du XVIIIè Siècle, Paris, 2002, p.849, who further discusses Sené's lesser known production of bureaux).
Intriguingly, a bureau plat attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire and Adam Weisweiler, possibly supplied by the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre and sold Christie's, London, 10 July 2008, lot 10 (£427,250) featured a closely related brass-mounted eared top above legs en jarret with patinated bronze Egyptian winged females, highly reminiscent of Sené's 'Etruscan'-inspired production.