PROPERTY SOLD TO BENEFIT THE ACQUISITIONS FUND OF THE FINE ARTS MUSEUMS OF SAN FRANCISCO (LOT 424)

A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AMARANTH, TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT

ATTRIBUTED TO JACQUES DUBOIS, CIRCA 1750

Details

A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED AMARANTH, TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY SECRETAIRE A ABATTANT
ATTRIBUTED TO JACQUES DUBOIS, CIRCA 1750
The shaped brèche violette marble top over a bombé form case inlaid with a bird among floral sprays, opening to a red leather writing surface with a collapsible reading panel and shelves and six small drawers, the lower part with a pair of cupboard doors opening to five drawers, two concealing a coffre fort, with spurious JME marks, with two paper labels to the reverse inscribed Huntington, further inscribed 1926.113, the back inscribed in green chalk 20
57½ in. (146 cm.) high, 45¾ in. (116 cm.) wide, 17¼ in. (44 cm.) deep

Provenance

Gift of Archer M. Huntington.

Sale room notice

Please note this secretaire, although unstamped, can be attributed to Jacques Dubois on the basis of a comparison with a secretaire stamped by Dubois of closely related form and with nearly identical mounts illustrated in Connaissance des Arts (September, 1954), then with Galerie Kraemer, Paris.

Two additional closely related secretaires, also likely by Dubois, were sold in the Josse sale; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 28-29 May 1894, lot 157 and Tajan, Paris, 20 September 2000, lot AH.

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Lot Essay

While furniture of the Louis XV period is known for its flowing lines, the present secretaire à abattant is particularly serpentine in nature. Its delicate floral inlay and bronze mounts accentuate its undulating silhouette. A secretaire of similar form and proportions to the present lot by Pierre Flechy is illustrated J. Nicolay, L'art et la Manière des Maitres Ébénistes Français au XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, vol. I, 1976, pg. 182, fig. A. Another acclaimed model of similar form by Jean-François Oeben is in the collections of the Residenz Museum, Munich and illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ébénistes Français de Louis XIV à La Révolution, 1989, p. 259, fig. 274.

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