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Lot Essay
Designed overall in the Louis XIV 'antique' manner developed by André-Charles Boulle, the brass, sumptuous red tortoiseshell and ebony marquetry panels to the doors of this armoire are typical of the ingenious inventiveness with which the ébéniste Nicolas Sageot (1666-1731, maître in 1706) created ever new designs, using the 'antique' and 'arabesque' engravings of Jean Bérain (d. 1711) as his main source.
First recorded in Paris in 1698, Sageot was based in the faubourg Saint-Antoine. He evidently rapidly expanded his business, as by 1711 he had 12,000 livres, almost all in stock-in-trade. The extensive nature of his business is revealed by the sale in 1720 to Lonard Prieur, 'Marchand Mercier Grossier Joaillier Priviligié suivant la Cour', of 16,000 livres of furniture, consisting of a wide range of armoires, bureaux and commodes, amongst which were several 'armoires à dôme' in brass-inlaid tortoiseshell, valued between 400 and 1000 livres.
Sageot’s oeuvre is discussed by P. Grand in 'Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l'epoque', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, February 1993, pp. 48 – 70, where Grand identifies three developmental stages in Sageot's armoires: the first displays the arched cornice and a dense Bérainesque marquetry incorporating red tortoiseshell covering much of the surfaces; the second adds the formal pilasters to each side of the doors and moves away from the figurative marquetry to replace them with arabesques; and the third changes the arched cornice to an ogival shape. This armoire fits between the first and second stage as it has the pilasters to each side (although reconstructed) but the marquetry is still very much in the manner of Bérain.
The overall domed form of this armoire, as well as the marqutery panels, closely relate to an example attributed to Sageot and sold by Partridge at Christie’s, New York, 17 May 2006, lot 115 ($180,000). The most closely related examples, though, are related by the marquetry panels to the doors, the first being a pair of armoires by Sageot sold anonymously Christie’s, New York, 13 April 2016, lot 11 ($233,000). The second example, also by Sageot, sold from the collection of Monsieur and Madame François, Christie’s, London 2011, lot 81 (£133,250) and the third example, in the manner of Sageot, sold from the collection of the Marquise de Ravenel, Christie’s, London 21-22 November 2007, lot 6 (£22,100). Whilst the panels to these three examples are centred by either Hercules or seated figures emblematic of Astronomy – differing from the present lot’s panels, which are centred by a figure riding a chariot, probably Helios – the overall inlay is nearly identical in design with only slight variations.
First recorded in Paris in 1698, Sageot was based in the faubourg Saint-Antoine. He evidently rapidly expanded his business, as by 1711 he had 12,000 livres, almost all in stock-in-trade. The extensive nature of his business is revealed by the sale in 1720 to Lonard Prieur, 'Marchand Mercier Grossier Joaillier Priviligié suivant la Cour', of 16,000 livres of furniture, consisting of a wide range of armoires, bureaux and commodes, amongst which were several 'armoires à dôme' in brass-inlaid tortoiseshell, valued between 400 and 1000 livres.
Sageot’s oeuvre is discussed by P. Grand in 'Le Mobilier Boulle et les ateliers de l'epoque', L'Estampille L'Objet d'Art, February 1993, pp. 48 – 70, where Grand identifies three developmental stages in Sageot's armoires: the first displays the arched cornice and a dense Bérainesque marquetry incorporating red tortoiseshell covering much of the surfaces; the second adds the formal pilasters to each side of the doors and moves away from the figurative marquetry to replace them with arabesques; and the third changes the arched cornice to an ogival shape. This armoire fits between the first and second stage as it has the pilasters to each side (although reconstructed) but the marquetry is still very much in the manner of Bérain.
The overall domed form of this armoire, as well as the marqutery panels, closely relate to an example attributed to Sageot and sold by Partridge at Christie’s, New York, 17 May 2006, lot 115 ($180,000). The most closely related examples, though, are related by the marquetry panels to the doors, the first being a pair of armoires by Sageot sold anonymously Christie’s, New York, 13 April 2016, lot 11 ($233,000). The second example, also by Sageot, sold from the collection of Monsieur and Madame François, Christie’s, London 2011, lot 81 (£133,250) and the third example, in the manner of Sageot, sold from the collection of the Marquise de Ravenel, Christie’s, London 21-22 November 2007, lot 6 (£22,100). Whilst the panels to these three examples are centred by either Hercules or seated figures emblematic of Astronomy – differing from the present lot’s panels, which are centred by a figure riding a chariot, probably Helios – the overall inlay is nearly identical in design with only slight variations.