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拍品专文
Bernard II van Risenburgh (BVRB) (d. 1765), maître before 1730.
This elegant table à écrire is branded BV beneath a crown, the mark of the château de Bellevue. The château was built for Madame de Pompadour by Louis XV to the designs of A.-J. Gabriel, commencing in 1748. Finished by Lassurance, Bellevue was inaugurated by the favourite in the presence of the King and the court on 25 November 1750, although the interior decoration continued until 1752. The Royal scale of the furnishing of this and her other residences is revealed in the pages of the Livre-Journal of Lazare Duvaux, the marchand-mercier through whom Madame de Pompadour made most of her purchases and from whom, in all probablility, she purchased this table. The copious entries of the Livre-Journal (ed. Louis Courajod, Paris, 1873) in Madame de Pompadour's name (upwards of 350 between 1748 and 1762) are generally too brief to allow positive identification, though the variety and luxury of Duvaux's supplies to the favourite - commodes and tables of lacquer and marquetry, enormous quantities of Vincennes, porcelaine de Saxe and lacquer, both mounted and unmounted, and a choice variety of bibelots, as well as the infinite attention given to the repair and maintenance of her possessions, give a vivid picture of her refined and civilised existence. Among these many entries, the only one of any substance which might correspond to this table is No. 650 (22 November 1750)...'Une table à ecrire de trois pieds de long plaquée en bois de rose avec des fleurs & ornemens dorées d'or moulu, les cornets en argents, 890 l.'
The table next appears in an inventory drawn up in 1763 for the King following his repurchase of Bellevue and its contents from Madame de Pompadour in 1757 (Archives Nationales 013317, folio 241 vo):
'No 40 Une Table a écrire de bois de Rose a fleurs de Bois violet a placcages, aïant par devant une tablette à coulisse couverte de velours vert encastré de même bois, et a chaque bout un tiroir fermant a clef doublé de moire verte encadrée d'un petit passepoil d'or faux. celue du côté droit garni d'Encrier, poudrier et Boëte a Eponge d'argent placés dans une Ecritoire ambulante de bois de roze. la Table ornée d'Entrées de serrures, quarts de ronds, encoignures et pieds de biche de bronze doré d'or moulu. longue de 2: pieds 11 pouces sur 18 pouces de large et 26 pouces de haut'.
The dimensions and description correspond so closely as to allow no doubt of its identification. As mentioned above, the mounts, or at least some of them, are conceived in the Régence style, apparently predating the manufacture of the table. The hoof feet, however, are clearly listed as pieds de bîche in the 1763 inventory. The asymmetric handles are typical of BVRB's mounts and these also appear to be original, although perhaps just slightly moved at a certain date. The pierced angle mounts, listed as 'encoignures' in the inventory, are less sculpturally cast and not as precisely chased as the other mounts and almost certainly date from the earlier 18th Century. There are some signs of other small plugged holes to the reverse, but these are not consistent on each leg and do not necessarily correspond to an earlier group of angle mounts. BVRB may have used an older mount made available to him, especially as the pieds de bîche continue the somewhat 'antiquarian' fashion on this piece. The quarts de ronds listed in the inventory probably either refer to a border framing the top or stringing to the edges of the legs which is visible on the Dutasta table, sold in Paris 3-4 June 1926, lot 144.
BVRB
This beautiful writing-table is an exceptionally elegant example of the early floral marquetry furniture of one of the greatest Parisian ébénistes of the 18th Century, Bernard II van Risen Burgh (after 1696- circa 1766). This maker, whose work epitomises the early pittoresque Louis XV style and who used the stamp BVRB, developed such a personal style that there can rarely be any doubt regarding the attribution of his pieces.
The son of a cabinet-maker of Dutch origin, van Risen Burgh established his workshop independently of his father's in the Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, where he began to produce furniture distinguished principally by the extraordinary quality of its conception, construction and innovative ormolu mounts. Throughout his career, BVRB worked almost exclusively for the marchands-mercier and, unlike many of his contemporaries, he had almost no direct contact with his illustrious private clientele. In this respect, he is singularly a product of the marchand-mercier system. It was through the intervention of the well-known marchands for whom BVRB worked, therefore, particularly Thomas-Joachim Hébert and, subsequently from the 1750s Lazare Duvaux and Simon-Philippe Poirier, that his furniture was delivered to the principal patrons of the day - foremost among them being the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne.
BVRB is perhaps most celebrated not only for his employment of innovative materials in his furniture, particularly panels of Chinese and Japanese lacquer and Sèvres porcelain plaques, but additionally his masterful bois-de-boût floral marquetry. BVRB has been credited with reviving the fashion for floral marquetry decoration on furniture, a taste which had been out of favour since the Régence period. Indeed, the first deliveries of floral marquetry furniture to the Garde-Meuble were by the marchand-mercier Thomas-Joachim Hébert in 1745 for the Dauphin and the Dauphine at Versailles and these were almost entirely by BVRB, embellished with his characteristic bois-de-boût marquetry of end-cut floral trails in kingwood on a bois satiné and, subsequently, on a tulipwood ground (D. Meyer, Le Mobilier de Versailles, vol. I, Dijon, 2002, no. 29, pp. 108-111). BVRB is also renowned for the extraordinary design, burnishing and chasing of his ormolu mounts, which are uniquely found among his oeuvre and do not recur, as was typically the case, on furniture by other makers. It is assumed, therefore, that he either designed and cast his own mounts - a rare practice in direct contravention of the strict guild regulations - or that they were reserved by the bronzier for his exclusive use.
On most of BVRB's pieces decorated in bois-de-boût marquetry, stylised foliate scrolls entirely cover all sides, only interrupted by framing scrolls in dark woods or mounts. On the present table, however, the foliate cartouche is framed by a geometric cube pattern, reminiscent of his work of the 1730s and early 1740s and this would suggest an early execution date in this new development, around 1750 or even slightly before. This is substantiated by some of the mounts, notably the pierced angle mounts but also the hoof feet, which have a decidedly Régence appearance. In the following years, BVRB executed numerous related writing-tables, embellished with bois-de-boût marquetry and of differing sizes, but only very few of this very large scale, which is wider and deeper than most of his tables à écrire, but smaller than his bureaux plats. One other example is known to exist, which was sold from the collection of Paul Dutasta, Paris, 3-4 June 1926, lot 144. This was almost certainly executed slighly later than the present example: the geometric pattern has been replaced by plain veneers framing the cartouche and the mounts have evolved into more small-scale pittoresque 'jewels'.
EDWARD HOLMES BALDOCK
This table bears the stamp of Edward Holmes Baldock or EHB. The English marchand-mercier Edward Holmes Baldock (d. 1845), 'Purveyor of China, Earthenware and Glass to William IV' (1832-7) and 'Purveyor of China to Queen Victoria' (1838-45), was both a retailer of 'antique' French furniture as well as a manufacturer of furniture and objets de luxe in the French taste. Established in Hanway Street, London, he often employed the brand 'EHB' and was responsible for the formation of many of the greatest early 19th century collections of French furniture in England, including those of George IV, the Dukes of Buccleuch and Northumberland, William Beckford and George Byng, MP.
This elegant table à écrire is branded BV beneath a crown, the mark of the château de Bellevue. The château was built for Madame de Pompadour by Louis XV to the designs of A.-J. Gabriel, commencing in 1748. Finished by Lassurance, Bellevue was inaugurated by the favourite in the presence of the King and the court on 25 November 1750, although the interior decoration continued until 1752. The Royal scale of the furnishing of this and her other residences is revealed in the pages of the Livre-Journal of Lazare Duvaux, the marchand-mercier through whom Madame de Pompadour made most of her purchases and from whom, in all probablility, she purchased this table. The copious entries of the Livre-Journal (ed. Louis Courajod, Paris, 1873) in Madame de Pompadour's name (upwards of 350 between 1748 and 1762) are generally too brief to allow positive identification, though the variety and luxury of Duvaux's supplies to the favourite - commodes and tables of lacquer and marquetry, enormous quantities of Vincennes, porcelaine de Saxe and lacquer, both mounted and unmounted, and a choice variety of bibelots, as well as the infinite attention given to the repair and maintenance of her possessions, give a vivid picture of her refined and civilised existence. Among these many entries, the only one of any substance which might correspond to this table is No. 650 (22 November 1750)...'Une table à ecrire de trois pieds de long plaquée en bois de rose avec des fleurs & ornemens dorées d'or moulu, les cornets en argents, 890 l.'
The table next appears in an inventory drawn up in 1763 for the King following his repurchase of Bellevue and its contents from Madame de Pompadour in 1757 (Archives Nationales 013317, folio 241 vo):
'No 40 Une Table a écrire de bois de Rose a fleurs de Bois violet a placcages, aïant par devant une tablette à coulisse couverte de velours vert encastré de même bois, et a chaque bout un tiroir fermant a clef doublé de moire verte encadrée d'un petit passepoil d'or faux. celue du côté droit garni d'Encrier, poudrier et Boëte a Eponge d'argent placés dans une Ecritoire ambulante de bois de roze. la Table ornée d'Entrées de serrures, quarts de ronds, encoignures et pieds de biche de bronze doré d'or moulu. longue de 2: pieds 11 pouces sur 18 pouces de large et 26 pouces de haut'.
The dimensions and description correspond so closely as to allow no doubt of its identification. As mentioned above, the mounts, or at least some of them, are conceived in the Régence style, apparently predating the manufacture of the table. The hoof feet, however, are clearly listed as pieds de bîche in the 1763 inventory. The asymmetric handles are typical of BVRB's mounts and these also appear to be original, although perhaps just slightly moved at a certain date. The pierced angle mounts, listed as 'encoignures' in the inventory, are less sculpturally cast and not as precisely chased as the other mounts and almost certainly date from the earlier 18th Century. There are some signs of other small plugged holes to the reverse, but these are not consistent on each leg and do not necessarily correspond to an earlier group of angle mounts. BVRB may have used an older mount made available to him, especially as the pieds de bîche continue the somewhat 'antiquarian' fashion on this piece. The quarts de ronds listed in the inventory probably either refer to a border framing the top or stringing to the edges of the legs which is visible on the Dutasta table, sold in Paris 3-4 June 1926, lot 144.
BVRB
This beautiful writing-table is an exceptionally elegant example of the early floral marquetry furniture of one of the greatest Parisian ébénistes of the 18th Century, Bernard II van Risen Burgh (after 1696- circa 1766). This maker, whose work epitomises the early pittoresque Louis XV style and who used the stamp BVRB, developed such a personal style that there can rarely be any doubt regarding the attribution of his pieces.
The son of a cabinet-maker of Dutch origin, van Risen Burgh established his workshop independently of his father's in the Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, where he began to produce furniture distinguished principally by the extraordinary quality of its conception, construction and innovative ormolu mounts. Throughout his career, BVRB worked almost exclusively for the marchands-mercier and, unlike many of his contemporaries, he had almost no direct contact with his illustrious private clientele. In this respect, he is singularly a product of the marchand-mercier system. It was through the intervention of the well-known marchands for whom BVRB worked, therefore, particularly Thomas-Joachim Hébert and, subsequently from the 1750s Lazare Duvaux and Simon-Philippe Poirier, that his furniture was delivered to the principal patrons of the day - foremost among them being the Garde-Meuble de la Couronne.
BVRB is perhaps most celebrated not only for his employment of innovative materials in his furniture, particularly panels of Chinese and Japanese lacquer and Sèvres porcelain plaques, but additionally his masterful bois-de-boût floral marquetry. BVRB has been credited with reviving the fashion for floral marquetry decoration on furniture, a taste which had been out of favour since the Régence period. Indeed, the first deliveries of floral marquetry furniture to the Garde-Meuble were by the marchand-mercier Thomas-Joachim Hébert in 1745 for the Dauphin and the Dauphine at Versailles and these were almost entirely by BVRB, embellished with his characteristic bois-de-boût marquetry of end-cut floral trails in kingwood on a bois satiné and, subsequently, on a tulipwood ground (D. Meyer, Le Mobilier de Versailles, vol. I, Dijon, 2002, no. 29, pp. 108-111). BVRB is also renowned for the extraordinary design, burnishing and chasing of his ormolu mounts, which are uniquely found among his oeuvre and do not recur, as was typically the case, on furniture by other makers. It is assumed, therefore, that he either designed and cast his own mounts - a rare practice in direct contravention of the strict guild regulations - or that they were reserved by the bronzier for his exclusive use.
On most of BVRB's pieces decorated in bois-de-boût marquetry, stylised foliate scrolls entirely cover all sides, only interrupted by framing scrolls in dark woods or mounts. On the present table, however, the foliate cartouche is framed by a geometric cube pattern, reminiscent of his work of the 1730s and early 1740s and this would suggest an early execution date in this new development, around 1750 or even slightly before. This is substantiated by some of the mounts, notably the pierced angle mounts but also the hoof feet, which have a decidedly Régence appearance. In the following years, BVRB executed numerous related writing-tables, embellished with bois-de-boût marquetry and of differing sizes, but only very few of this very large scale, which is wider and deeper than most of his tables à écrire, but smaller than his bureaux plats. One other example is known to exist, which was sold from the collection of Paul Dutasta, Paris, 3-4 June 1926, lot 144. This was almost certainly executed slighly later than the present example: the geometric pattern has been replaced by plain veneers framing the cartouche and the mounts have evolved into more small-scale pittoresque 'jewels'.
EDWARD HOLMES BALDOCK
This table bears the stamp of Edward Holmes Baldock or EHB. The English marchand-mercier Edward Holmes Baldock (d. 1845), 'Purveyor of China, Earthenware and Glass to William IV' (1832-7) and 'Purveyor of China to Queen Victoria' (1838-45), was both a retailer of 'antique' French furniture as well as a manufacturer of furniture and objets de luxe in the French taste. Established in Hanway Street, London, he often employed the brand 'EHB' and was responsible for the formation of many of the greatest early 19th century collections of French furniture in England, including those of George IV, the Dukes of Buccleuch and Northumberland, William Beckford and George Byng, MP.