A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONY, EBONIZED, AND GILT-DECORATED LACQUER COMMODE
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONY, EBONIZED, AND GILT-DECORATED LACQUER COMMODE
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONY, EBONIZED, AND GILT-DECORATED LACQUER COMMODE
2 More
Please note this lot will be moved to Christie’s F… Read more
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONY, EBONIZED, AND GILT-DECORATED LACQUER COMMODE

AFTER THE MODEL BY MARTIN CARLIN, BY E.-GUILLAUME-EDMOND LEXCELLENT, PARIS, LATE 19TH CENTURY

Details
A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED EBONY, EBONIZED, AND GILT-DECORATED LACQUER COMMODE
AFTER THE MODEL BY MARTIN CARLIN, BY E.-GUILLAUME-EDMOND LEXCELLENT, PARIS, LATE 19TH CENTURY
The inset D-shaped brèche violette marble top above a swag frieze and pair of cupboard doors enclosing an interior shelf, on fluted toupie feet, the reverse twice stenciled 'LEXCELLENT/8 RUE BREUGET/PARIS'
39 ½ in. (100 cm.) high, 73 in. (185.5 cm.) wide, 22 ¼ in. (56 cm.) deep
Special notice
Please note this lot will be moved to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn) at 5pm on the last day of the sale. Lots may not be collected during the day of their move to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services. Please consult the Lot Collection Notice for collection information. This sheet is available from the Bidder Registration staff, Purchaser Payments or the Packing Desk and will be sent with your invoice.

Lot Essay

E.-Guillaume-Edmond Lexcellent (b. 1834) first opened an atelier at 46, rue de Charenton in 1867. He relocated to 8, rue Breguet where he worked until 1928. He exhibited meubles de luxe de divers styles at the 1867, 1878 and 1889 Expositions universelles where he was awarded a médaille de bronze as well as a médaille d'argent. Despite the unusually small number of works, particularly those dating to the firm's earlier output, Lexcellent reportedly employed over eighty workmen according to his 1878 exhibition application, two of which were women (C. Payne, Paris Furniture: The Luxury Market of the 19th Century, 2018, p. 427).

Lexcellent's furniture is highlighted in the Art Journal Paris Exhibition supplement for 1900, which notes, 'the works of Rn Lexcellent form an extremely interesting display. It is to M. Lexcellent that the credit is to be given for such complete and careful work in the chiseled bronzes and other details which in no sense interfere with delicacy of the whole'.

For a note on this model by Martin Carlin, see lot 175.

More from A GOLDEN AGE: An Important Collection of 19th Century Furniture & Decorative Art

View All
View All