AFTER THE MODEL BY GUILLAUME BENEMAN, LATE 19TH CENTURY

The present commode à l'anglaise is inspired by the celebrated model created by Guillaume Beneman for Marie-Antoinette's salon des Jeux at the Château de Compiègne. A pair of this model was delivered to the château in 1786, and it has been widely admired and imitated in the subsequent centuries, a reflection of the enduring interest in the famed Queen's taste, whose initials comprise the elaborate decoration to the central door. A nearly identical model sold Christie's, New York, 21 October 2008, lot 383 ($86,500). Another unsigned example of the model was sold Sotheby's, New York 19 April 2007, lot 148 ($102,000).